


Golden Age

by LionsEscaped



Series: Cersei x Jaime Post Canon Fics [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Angst, Angst and Humor, Angst with a Happy Ending, Beautiful Golden Fools, Drama, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Happy Ending, Humor, Incest, Love, Lys (ASoIaF), Pentos, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Sibling Incest, The Free Cities (ASoIaF), Twincest, two souls one body
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-23 05:23:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 33,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23972989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LionsEscaped/pseuds/LionsEscaped
Summary: Cersei and Jaime have made it to the boat, but the path to a new life together will not be easy. Can they forgive each other and move forward for the sake of their unborn child?Excerpt from chapter 6:Cersei's voice cut through his thoughts. "You would have left even if I hadn't threatened to kill you."He detected the sadness in her voice that she was trying to mask. Still, he didn't deny it. "I made a vow.""A vow to our enemy. Just as you did all those years ago.""If you mean the Stark girls that was years ago and I didn't expect them to be found alive.""The Stark girls. The fight against the dead. Do you think I did not notice the common factor in both?""The common factor? You mean that I wish to be a knight actually worthy of the name?""No. Her.""Her?""Yes her. If she or rather it, can be called that."His stomach dropped. He was glad Cersei was still facing away from him. for he feared what reaction he was showing right now. In as steady a voice as possible, he asked "She?" as though he did not already know of whom his twin was referring to."That ugly cow. Brienne. Brienne of Tarth."
Relationships: Cersei Lannister/Jaime Lannister
Series: Cersei x Jaime Post Canon Fics [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1374574
Comments: 315
Kudos: 171





	1. Goodbye Kingslanding

**Author's Note:**

> This is the free cities AU that I kept putting off writing. It will be multi-chapter, I'm not sure how many, probably five or six chapters. This can be read as a continuation of my fic "A Lannister always pays his debts". If you don't want to read that one I'll sum it up here. Tyrion brought Jaime and Cersei back to life and sent them on their way to Pentos, giving them new names of Janus and Anna so that they would not be found out. Tyrion and Cersei had a heartfelt moment before they got on the boat. She apologized for the way she had been treating him their whole life. Then Jaime and Cersei sailed off to their new life. [](https://statcounter.com/)

There is only one pair of paddles in the dinghy. Cersei looks at Jaime expectantly. He holds his stump up, as his golden hand had been unfortunately sold by Tyrion to bring them back. Cersei sighs and grabs the paddles and begins rowing. The sun is setting, but they are in luck for once. The moon is full tonight and it lights the way. The path to Pentos is a straight forward one, they need only have enough light to be able to make sure they hit no rocks on the way.

Hours passed with only the sound of waves to break the silence. Neither knew what to say. Jaime was happy that she and Tyrion finally had come to peace, but there were a million other thoughts swirling in his mind. He couldn't bring himself to talk to her knowing that she had ordered his death.

Cersei was wondering if Jaime knew that she had ordered his death. No, surely he didn't know or he would never have come back for her. There must be another reason for his silence. He was probably tired, in spite of their almost eternal slumber. Did being dead even count as sleeping? She supposed it must, for she had felt quite exhausted before her death, yet now she felt more awake than ever. She wasn't sure however how long this feeling would last, perhaps it was all the excitement and she would soon again feel exhausted. Still, no matter how awake she now felt she would need to sleep eventually. Didn't it take a day or perhaps two to make it to Pentos? How would they manage?

"Jaime, doesn't it take about a day or two to make it from Kings Landing to Pentos? How will I sleep if I have to row this whole time?" 

"Actually, it takes about three to five days."

"Three to five days! Are you certain? I cannot row for that long! How in seven hells did Tyrion think we could make it to Pentos? I would say he sent us off to our deaths, but he surely wouldn't have brought us back just for us to die. Or would he have? Perhaps I was too quick to forgive him!"

Jaime sighed, "Don't go acting that way again. There are small islands along the way. I'm sure he intends for us to stop and rest at them before making it to Pentos."

"Small islands? Why do I know nothing of these islands?" she asked suspiciously.

"Tyrion knows of these Islands I'm sure. You know how much he's studied maps."

"Studied maps?"

"Yes. Maps. You know, the things with landscapes drawn on them?" 

"That is rather funny. I've done plenty of my own studying of maps. You know how father was. Never would let me see the world no. But determined he was that I know all of it. There are no such islands on the map." 

Jaime sighed. He'd messed up claiming the islands had been on maps. Now they had barely begun on their journey and were already arguing and it wasn't even about anything important. This was going to be a long trip. 

Annoyed at her brother's silence she continued, "So why have I not heard of such islands? They are certainly not on any maps. So please dear brother do tell me if there are such islands, why are they not on any map?"

"Perhaps because they are small and uninhabited. They are more patches of land than islands, to be honest. But they will allow us to rest for the night."

"Small patches of land. How quaint. And how do you know of these little patches of land?"

"I just know." He didn't want to admit that after her marriage to Robert he still had hoped she would run away with him. He didn't want to admit that the times he had asked for permission to go to Pentos hadn't been for leisure. It had been to study the route. To learn just how two people alone could make it to Pentos. He wouldn't give her the satisfaction of knowing it hadn't been a spur of the moment thing when he had asked her to run away with him all those years ago. 

"You just know eh? Well great for you. I suppose you'll direct me which direction I should head then?"

"Of course. Just head straight for now. Then you will see a patch of land. But It should be a long while until then."

"How long of a while?"

"About fifteen to eighteen hours. Depends how fast you can row."

"Eighteen hours?!" she sighed in frustration before another thought occurred to her. "What of food?" she asked concerned.

"It's already been four or more I'm sure." It had been barely two, but they had no way of knowing that. "And It looks as if Tyrion gave us a fishing net and some water jugs. Perhaps there is more food in this here," he said gesturing to a small bag in the boat. 

"I certainly hope so."

It was some time before Cersei spoke again. "It seems risky to stop at any land no matter how small."

"We don't have a choice. I'll hide the boat well as I can. I'm going to get you to safety. You, me, the baby." 

"The baby...I still haven't felt the baby kick since..." her voice broke.

Jaime placed a reassuring hand on her knee. He wished he could take her in his arms and wipe away the tears that had started to flow down her beautiful face. "We will get you to a maester as soon as we get to Pentos."

"It may be too late then."

"You haven't bled, have you?"

"No. But the baby could be dead inside me. The witch said..."

Jaime stopped her there. "The witch said? Fuck that old hag she probably made it all up."

"How? She couldn't have known I'd have three children. Couldn't have known they would be mine, not Roberts. That they would all die. Though she was wrong about one thing..." 

She trailed off leaving Jaime to wonder what she meant. He had never wanted to hear the prophecy and could never understand her obsession with it. Nonetheless, It would certainly be easier to talk about than the other things they needed to discuss. "What was the witch wrong about?" 

"He said that the valonqar would kill me."

"Valonqar?"

"It's High Valyrian. It means little brother."

"Little brother...wait...is that why you've always hated Tyrion so?" Talking about Tyrion might be a good thing. Her tears had stopped flowing at least and he was curious just how sincere her apology to their little brother had been. Did she really regret how she had treated him all these years? He'd always thought even as cruel as Cersei could be that even she couldn't have hated Tyrion just for killing their mother. He had been just an infant after all. Her embarrassment over him being a dwarf didn't seem enough of reason either for her hatred of him. He'd long ago suspected there had been more to her hatred but could never quite figure out what. Over time he had come to wonder if maybe Tyrion was right about her. Maybe she was even more hateful then he thought and he was just blind to it because of his love for her. 

"In part yes. I mean I still hated that he killed our mother and I hated that he was a disgusting little imp. I don't mean just his size, I mean how lecherous he always was. And greedy. Always so greedy. Even as a child, he used to try to take my toys always. My stuffed lion especially! Yours too of course but you never seemed to mind." 

Jaime smiled at her sadly. "I never minded because I knew why he did it."

"Why?"

"Father. Father never gave him any toys of his own. Never paid him any mind. I was all he had and those toys put a smile on his face for however brief."

"Father. I think the longer he is dead the more I grow to hate him."

He was surprised at this revelation. "Hate father? You hated our father?"

"Not while he lived. But after he died. I thought a lot about everything he had done. Everything more he would have done. He never cared about me. I was a broodmare to him. Used for securing House Lannister's bloodline into the Throne."

"Well, so much for that."

To his surprise, Cersei actually smiled at that. "If only father could see us now."

"He would be rolling over in his grave if he could," Jaime agreed. 

"My last words to him were when I told him about us. I nearly thought he would die right then from the shock. Perhaps he would have later succumbed if Tyrion hadn't..."

"Well, I'm glad he found out before he died. I always wanted to tell him."

"But you never did," she replied accusatorily.

"No. I didn't." Why was she angry? She never had wanted him to tell their father. Had she? 

Some more time passed, the two both silent and lost in their own thoughts. A low rumbling was heard. "Was that me?" Jaime asked.

"I think it was me. I didn't realize until now how hungry I was. Also....I have to make water. How am I to do that here?" She had never wished more then she did in that moment that she was a man.

"Hold it?"

She looked at him as if he truly was the stupidest Lannister, "Hold it?! Hold it! For twelve or more hours? Really Jaime even you should..."

He cut in before she could finish her probably rude comment, "I'll find something for you to go in." He looked at what was on the boat. One of their three water jugs has only a third of the water left. It may have been foolish but they agreed that they would quickly finish it and she would use that.

Once Cersei relieved herself and they got the boat back on course Jaime more closely looked at the food in the bag. Tyrion had provided, but it wasn't much. He would have to catch some fish when they made it to land. "There isn't much in the way of food. Just some day-old bread, dried apples, and carrots. You should have it all. You need your strength to row."

"You need yours too. You were bleeding before..."

"It's all healed now. Though I seem to have quite the scar."

"Well, how do you propose I eat? Should I just let us drift again?" 

"Or I could feed you."

"I suppose that would work better. As tired as my arms are getting I'd rather make it to shore sooner rather than later."

"Alright then. What would you like first?"

"I suppose some apples."

He fed her some of the apples. As he did he couldn't help but remember the last time he had fed her. They had been in bed. and he had fed her strawberries dipped in honey and the night had ended in pure bliss. There would be no such antics now, in this dinghy he could barely reach in front of her mouth to feed her. Not that he planned to do anything if they had more room. He was still conflicted about things. Besides that, they needed to get to safety. Still, he couldn't hide his happiness as he thought of that night. He had spent much time licking the honey off of her. 

His happiness didn't go unnoticed by Cersei. "What are you smiling about?"

He wasn't going to let her know that he was reminiscing about them. Not yet. Not until she explained why in seven hells she had ordered his death. "I was just thinking of when we get to the free cities. Of how we will be able to have any food we want. They say the free cities have even more of a selection then Westeros."

"Really? I've not heard that. I suppose we will have to see."

Before long she had enough of the apples and asked for some bread. He broke that apart too and fed it to her. When she had her fill of that he offered her some of the carrots. She declined. She had never been fond of those so he figured he would eat some of them. There was still some left as well as some bread and apples if she got hungry before they made it to land.

A bit more time passed before Cersei broke the silence. It wasn't like Jaime to be so quiet, especially after any amount of time spent away from her. He should be full of words right now. They had just died after all! Perhaps he did know about her order to have him killed, but then why hadn't he mentioned it?

You're rather quiet," she commented.

"I've nothing to say."

"You normally have a lot to say."

"Well if you hadn't noticed there is nothing at all normal about this situation."

"No I suppose there isn't," she replied dryly.

More time passed. Cersei was starting to get tired. She wondered just how much time had passed and asked Jaime. He did not know either but expected it was long enough that the sun would be rising soon. The silence is driving her mad. She desperately wished Jaime would say something, anything at all. 

Yet more time passed before Cersei once again broke the silence. "Tell me of the war."

"There isn't much to tell."

"Isn't much to tell? You fought a war against undead creatures. With a mad Targaryen and a dragon. Surely there is something."

"What do you want to know?"

"I suppose everything. How was the Night King defeated? Who fought? Who died? I'm bored Jaime. Think of it as your debt to pay."

"My debt to pay?"

"For being useless right now. For me being pregnant yet having to do all the work."

He wanted to protest. He had come back for her after all. She would still be dead under the Red Keep if it hadn't have been for him. Tyrion cared enough to bring him back, but her he had only brought back for him. However, telling her all of this would just cause an argument and he was tired of that. Besides that, she was right in a way. It was she, not he who would ensure they got to Pentos. He would be lucky if he could even manage to catch fish for them to eat. "Fair enough. Where should I begin? 

He was rather enjoying telling her of his time in the North. Talking to her like this he was happy, truly happy for the first time in a long time. He knew he had her full attention and he wasn't going to lie it felt damn nice. He was almost disappointed when he spotted the small patch of land in the distance.


	2. Not Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cersei and Jaime settle in for the rest of the day and night on the island but it seems they are not alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the reviews, I was shocked and pleasantly surprised to get so many! I hope that you guys will like this chapter as much as you liked the first one. I can't believe it's now been a year since the episode of their death!

Cersei spotted the land around the same time Jaime did and interrupted him, "Look! Finally!"

He hated being interrupted and hated that their talk was to come to an end. However, he couldn't deny that he was somewhat glad to see land, no matter how small. "That is a sweet sight. I can't wait to finally stretch my legs. And rest," he exclaimed.

"Rest? You've been doing nothing but resting this whole time," she complained. 

Not wanting to get into another argument he ignored her remark. He had more pressing concerns anyway He hadn't remembered the small island having this many trees or it seeming so large. He shrugged these things off, it had been over a decade ago that he had last set sight on the island and his memory wasn't the best. After all, he had once mistaken Tarth for Estermont.

Cersei's voice cut through, making him forget such worries, "I am exhausted! I think the only thing that has kept me awake so long has been hearing of your time in the North. Though I still don't know how the Night King was defeated." 

"I'll tell you after we eat and rest some." Cersei hadn't been happy to find out that Arya Stark was still alive. She would be equally unhappy to know Arya would be forever known as the hero who killed the Night King. He'd forgotten all about that. It would at least be an easier topic to tell her about than his brief relationship with Brienne.

"I suppose there probably isn't much to tell. He was probably just no match for the dragons," she replied. If she only knew. Jaime was dying to tell her but knew that it probably would put her in an even more sour mood, so he decided to wait.

The rest of the way was rowed in silence. Finally, they made it to the shore. 

Cersei had always loved being near water, but for once she wished to be as far away from it as possible. As Jaime dragged the dingy to shore she walked some distance before she stretched her legs. She was rather relieved that the land didn't seem to be as small as Jaime had described it. Still, she had always been a worrier and this brought up new concerns.

"This seems bigger than a patch of land. It even has banana plants! Are you sure it's uninhabited?" she asked as he secured the dinghy to a nearby tree.

"Quite sure. It's not that big. It's not even a tenth of a mile." In truth, he wasn't so sure about that. He was starting to seriously doubt that this was the small island he had found so many years ago. He decided it best not to voice his concerns, telling himself there was no need to worry her. In truth, he didn't want to face her wrath.

"Well, it seems much larger. Will they all be this big?"

"The next two are far smaller, and the final one just a bit smaller."

"That's a lot of Islands to stop at. There has to be an easier way. I do not think I can row for days and days like this. Perhaps we could make our way to Sharp Point and steal a sailboat." 

He didn't get a chance to protest or argue that point before she continued, "What time do you think it is? It seemed the sun came up quite a while ago and I've had to go several times since then. And now I do again." 

He offered his guess, "I think it is probably around two, or perhaps three in the afternoon." 

"Well, you had better be right about this place being uninhabited." She remarked. Quickly she removed her small clothes and headed behind some trees, "I will be right back."

Cersei had looked rather embarrassed. Jaime realized that this must be even more difficult for her then he imagined. She had certainly never had to piss in a water jug before or squat down in between trees to do so. Well, maybe as a young girl when they'd been on the shore of Casterly Rock playing but that had been her choice. He, however, had been on plenty of rough trips. Most notably his travel in chains with Brienne, and his ill-fated trip to Dorne. Both trips had happened so many years ago, yet both were still painfully fresh in his mind. Cersei, however, was used to comfort and ease. This was new for her and she was pregnant to boot, she must certainly be having an even harder time then she was letting on.

Suddenly a blood-curdling scream knocked Jaime out of his thoughts. Cersei! He unsheathed his sword and rushed to the direction of the screen. 

When he found her she was standing and looking up at a tree. He couldn't see a sign of any other life than the two of them anywhere around. "Cersei. Why did you scream?"

"Someone attacked me."

"I don't see anybody here."

"They were in the tree. Throwing bananas at me."

"In the tree? Did you actually see somebody?" he asked amused and clearly not believing her.

"No. But I heard laughter and a bunch of bananas are on the ground around me as you can see. One even hit me in the head!"

"They are probably just naturally falling from the trees. You are under a banana tree after all. As for the laughter, I think you're just tired and hearing things. We've been awake for nearly twenty hours now after all and you are pregnant. You must surely be exhausted." 

"I am tired but I am not seeing things! There is definitely somebody here. And furthermore, that's not a banana tree. Banana's don't even grow on trees!"

"Well, the banana plant then. You clearly must be under one or you wouldn't have gotten hit with bananas."

"Banana plants don't have branches. That is a tree dearest brother."

Jaime sighed in frustration. He couldn't remember what he had been taught about banana fruits but surely Cersei had to be wrong. "If somebody were here then tell me, sweet sister, why don't I see or hear them?"

"Perhaps because you're the blindest and deafest Lannister as well as being the stupidest?" Cersei suggested angrily. 

"Or perhaps you are just completely mad," Jaime started walking away. 

"Wait! I still have to..."

"And what do you want me to do hold your hand and say good girl as you go?" Jaime asked in frustration.

"Guard me as you are meant to. You still have Widows Wail. You can attack whomever it is."

"There is nobody here!" Jaime replied frustrated, "But fine."

"Turn around," she instructed.

"How shall I defend you if I cannot even see you?"

"I....ugh fine." With that Cersei squatted down and took her piss as Jaime kept watch. Even though the two had shared many things this was certainly a first for both of them. 

She had finished and was adjusting her dress as Jaime remarked, "See. Nothing happened. I told you there was nobody here." No sooner then the words came out of his mouth he was hit by not one, not two, but three bananas in a row.

"Ow!" he yelled. Cersei turned to look just in time to see one last banana hit Jaime in the head. "See I told you!" she exclaimed triumphantly.

"Maybe they are just falling," Jaime suggested.

"How stupid can you be? As I've mentioned that isn't even a banana plant!" Cersei protested just as a banana hit her in the face. It was followed by laughter coming from the trees.

"Did you hear that?" Cersei asked.

"I...what...Cersei look!"

Quickly she turned to look up in the tree. A monkey carrying bananas was darting in and out of the branches.

"A told you!"

"It's just a monkey. You probably upset it's home." 

"Just a monkey? You assured me the island was uninhabited. That was supposed to mean animals too," she remarked.

"I didn't know. I was certain it was. Somebody must have brought it here," he lied. 

"Or they were always here. And look, there's more!" Cersei stated, noticing and pointing to a group of monkeys relaxing in a further away tree.

"You sent us to monkey island!" she exclaimed.

"Is that really an island? I've not heard of it."

"No, you fool! I'm telling you that you sent us to a place filled with monkeys!"

"Would you rather still be rowing? Look, they are small, they won't be of any harm to us, annoyance yes, but let's just ignore them."

"Fine. But if they keep bothering me I will expect you to do something!"

"What would you have me do? Look, let's just get closer to shore and hope they won't bother us."

"Fine." With that, the two walked in silence and were soon back at the shore. 

Cersei broke the silence first, "I am just as hungry as I am tired. I do hope you plan to catch us some fish before we sleep." 

"I'll do my best, but you do realize a fire would attract too much attention?"

"What are you saying, that we shouldn't build one?"

"Of course we shouldn't. We don't want to risk being spotted if Daenerys fly over. Which I do think is unlikely but possible."

"How am I to eat then?" she asked.

"Many fish can be eaten raw."

"I don't even like sushi and you expect me to eat whatever is swimming in the filth of Blackwater Bay raw?" she asked aghast.

"We've no choice."

"Well, I can't. It's ill-advised for a pregnant woman. Even sushi."

"I've not heard such a thing."

"Qyburn told me so," As she spoke his name her voice broke and Jaime could surmise that something awful must have happened to Qyburn. Other then Euron he hadn't given much thought to Cersei's allies. He had simply figured Qyburn must have gotten crushed in the rubble, but he realized now how odd it was that he wasn't with Cersei when she died. Neither come to think of it had Ser Gregor been with her. He decided he would wait to ask her about it as he didn't want her to get even more upset.

He reconciled that it wouldn't be too much of a risk if they only kept the fire running while they ate. It would ease Cersei's comfort albeit a little. Besides, raw fish certainly wouldn't be easy to keep down for a pregnant woman and in their situation, he needed to make sure she didn't lose any fluids.

"I'll make one as soon as I catch something, but we must put it out after we eat."

Cersei sighed in relief, "Good."

"Or perhaps you could start the fire while I go catch some fish?" he suggested. As soon as the words left his mouth he realized what a stupid suggestion it was. 

"Me? I don't know the first thing about doing such. You can thank father for that. He never thought I should learn that particular skill. So I suppose you are useful after all."

"I can teach you some time. I'll be back as soon as possible with some fish. I'll be sure to strip down first so I don't soak my clothes."

Cersei watched as he walked a bit of a distance away. He stripped naked and Cersei took in the sight of her brother's naked body for the first time in many months. There were scars she hadn't noticed, scars from the battle, she assumed. She realized she still didn't know why the scar on his side had been bleeding when he came to her. Had somebody in the city figured out who he was and attacked him? The scar was healed now, so she supposed it mattered not who had caused it, but she was a bit curious. She supposed she would ask him about it, either while they ate or tomorrow. 

Even with his new scars, and in spite of his beard, she thought he looked quite handsome. He looked toned, perhaps even more so then he had as a youth fresh in the Kingsguard. He'd clearly been very active training and fighting the undead, and his physique showed it. If she weren't so hungry, tired, and concerned for the baby she had still not felt kick, she would have jumped his bones right then. 

Jaime didn't notice Cersei watching him. He had bigger concerns. There had been no banana trees, or banana plants as Cersei called them, let alone monkeys on the Island he had remembered. He was now absolutely certain this was not the small island he had found all those years ago. This meant that they were likely further south on course then he had thought. It finally dawned on him why they were off course and then he really did feel like the stupidest Lannister. He'd told Cersei to just head straight ahead. He had meant to tell her to head northeast but he had become so engrossed in telling her about his time in the north that he had forgotten. It wasn't anything that couldn't be corrected, but still, it had cost them some hours. Cersei would likely be furious when she found out. He supposed he would wait until morning to tell her. 

He set to work with the net, being thankful Tyrion had given him a casting net rather than a pole. He'd not used a fishing pole since losing his sword hand all those years ago and wasn't sure he would be able to. With the net, it was more down to luck. It may perhaps take longer but he'd be at least able to work it one-handed, albeit with some minor difficulty.

Once he caught what he felt was enough fish he secured the net and brought them back to shore. He got dressed and glanced Cersei's way to see if she was watching him dress. She was not. She was laying down and seemed to be asleep. In spite of their current situation, she looked at peace. The sun shone brightly on her hair and the maid's dress she was wearing blew lightly in the wind. He remembered a time long ago when she had come dressed to him in similar garb. The night she had first given herself to him. Even now it brought a smile to his face. Just like the wine she still loved, a habit which he planned to stop, she had only gotten better with age. He wanted to wake her with kisses, but then he remembered everything that had transpired these past few months and forced himself to get to work building the fire.

He soon gathered two sticks to build a fire and immediately set to task. He was having great difficulty. He realized now that he hadn't done this since losing his hand. He couldn't seem to get the needed friction without holding both sticks.

The noise he was making must have awoken Cersei because next thing he knew she was rubbing her eyes and asking him what he was doing.

"Trying to build a fire."

"Perhaps once you do we could keep it going all night? That dragon bitch is probably plenty busy enjoying the Iron Throne and watching everybody quake in fear. I doubt she will look for us." Cersei suggested.

"It's not that cold out, so not worth the risk. Daenerys isn't all we have to worry about. Anybody could pass by on a boat or ship and spot us and we don't want any trouble." 

"I guess you're right. At least winter doesn't seem so bad." 

"Winter hasn't fully hit yet, remember what I told you before?"

"That it hits North first."

"Yes. That goes for Essos too from what Sam told me. Braavos will be just as cold as Castle Black, but there's still time till it hits Pentos and yet longer till it hits the other cities.

Some time passed and Jaime still wasn't having any success starting the fire. He felt useless. Cersei had rowed them all the way here and now he couldn't even build a fire for them. He'd failed her. 

"Cersei...I...I need your help." he finally said.

She looked at him confused. "With what?

"Building the fire."

"Haven't you made many fires?"

"Not since..." He lifted his stump up.

Realization dawned on her. "I haven't the first clue what to do but suppose I can try if you tell me."

"I just need you to hold this for me. Hold it tight and then when we get a spark..." he explained the rest to her, giving her one of the sticks. 

It took over an hour, but working together they managed to make a fire. Jaime immediately set to work cooking the fish. When it was done he made sure to only take one, letting Cersei have the rest if she wanted.

"I've never had fish that tasted so bland before," she remarked after a few bites,

"Well, we don't exactly have spices here."

The two ate the remainder of the meal in silence, both having two fish. Cersei had declined a third helping and given her complaints he was surprised she'd even had seconds. Clearly she had been very hungry. Finally, they were both finished, and they each took turns washing their food down with some of the water they had. 

No sooner had that finished then Cersei broke the silence, "There's still some hours till sunset but I'm so tired. I'm going to sleep again on this uncomfortable ground."

"I can go get the sack Tyrion packed our food in. You can use it as a pillow."

"Bring the food here too. Assuming those stupid monkeys haven't stolen it. And Jaime..."

He turned to look at her, "Thank you for dinner."

"Thank you for rowing us here. I wish I could have helped." he turned and went to get the stuff. 

As Jaime walked away Cersei went to go pee again. Once again a monkey threw bananas at her. She would've ordered Jaime to run the little beast through with a sword if it hadn't been up high up in a tree. Since that wasn't possible she decided to gather up all the bananas the monkey had thrown at her. She gathered bananas thrown then, plus ones thrown earlier, plus some additional ones. Her shoulders and back ached from her earlier rowing but she would be damned if that monkey got the better of her. Unlike the ones on the plants, many of these bananas looked to be at almost perfect ripeness to eat. That stupid monkey must have been saving them until they ripened. Well, too bad, they were hers now and he would get no chance to retrieve them. She felt triumphant as she carried them back with her to where Jaime was now waiting for her. 

"Why are you carrying a boatloads worth of bananas?" he asked confused.

"I figure they will make a nice side for breakfast tomorrow. And I need to have one now to get the taste of that terrible herring out of my mouth," she asked setting them down nearby.

"I....well alright I guess. It seems a bit much but I suppose we could take some with us."

As Cersei ate her banana Jaime nervously brought up the matter of how they would keep warm with no fire. 

"We should cuddle. I mean because it's a bit chilly and we have no fire. It will help us to keep warm." 

"Cuddle. How cute. Alright then."

The two went to bed, side by side, facing each other. This time their legs were intertwined as well, and Cersei had rested her makeshift pillow next to his chest, Jaime draped his good arm around her as she settled in, which was somewhat new for them. They normally slept holding hands. This, however, would be better for warmth.

After a moment Cersei spoke, "Jaime? You still awake?"

"Hmm yes?"

"The baby still hasn't moved."

"Tommen was a still baby too. I'm sure he or she is fine."

"But the baby probably died when I did and what if the priest only brought us back?" she asked her voice breaking.

He didn't know what to say to that, so he kissed her tears away as he had done many times before. He was the only one she ever showed such vulnerability to. She moved to lay her head on his chest, preferring that over the makeshift pillow. She fell asleep listening to the sound of his heartbeat. It was only once he was certain she was asleep that he let himself succumb to his exhaustion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all comments welcome <3 Must admit I'm a little worried people won't like this chapter as much as they liked the first Also this might be a little bit longer than 5 or 6 chapters? I don't know yet. I just am enjoying writing their travel so much! edit: I mistyped widows wail as windows wail! Why didn't anybody tell me? ;( Also would love more reviews a bit of a downer that I seem to have lost some readers![](https://statcounter.com/)


	3. Late Night Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cersei and Jaime talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a shorter chapter than the previous two but I hope you guys will still find it a good read. The next chapter will probably be longer! edit: a03 is having some probs with their emails getting thro https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/16117 so I hope everyone has gotten the notification for this chap I fear some of my regular readers may have not.

When Jaime awoke it was light out and Cersei was sobbing and screaming, "No!" He turned to look at her and his heart stopped. She was laying in a pool of blood. He moved to assess the damage, and surprisingly she didn't protest. She lay there motionless, containing to sob, as he checked her. It didn't look to be enough blood that she would die, but she had certainly lost the baby.

She sobbed hysterically and he tried to pull her in to comfort her. She pushed him away angrily. Her eyes had a hateful look in them and she turned to him accusingly. "Now I have nothing! I should have stayed dead in The Red Keep. You shouldn't have let Tyrion bring me back!" 

"Cersei...I...I'm sorry."

"Why did you come back for me? Why?!" 

"We still have each other. Can't that be enough? I love you."

"You fool! It's not enough! Why would you think it would ever be enough?!"

"I...I...I'm sorry Cersei! For everything! I'm sor..."

"Jaime!? Jaime?! Wake up!" Cersei was nudging him awake urgently. 

It was still dark out as Jaime snapped awake. As he'd been in the midst of a terrible nightmare about Cersei losing the baby he feared the worst. "Is something wrong?" he asked, voice shaking.

"No! Quite the opposite! The baby kicked! He, or she is being very active right now! Do you want to feel?"

He placed his hand on her belly and felt the baby kick. He smiled, full of relief and joy. 

"I felt the kicks when I was heading back from the trees. No monkeys bothered me this time. When I came back I could see that you were having a nightmare so I thought I would wake you,"

"I'm glad you did," he paused for a moment, feeling another kick. "She is certainly being very active right now. Maybe she will enjoy playing with swords and climbing trees as her mother did."

"She?" Cersei asked.

"Just a feeling," he smiled at her. 

"Well maybe. And we will let her, won't we? She won't have my childhood where she is forced to pursue womanly things and scolded or whipped for taking part in any boyish activity."

"Of course. She will have the world. Or as much of it as we can give her anyway."

Cersei grabbed his hand and held it. Their fingers entwined as they felt another kick. 

"Have you thought of any names?" he asked.

"I was going use the name Cerion if it was a boy, and if it was a girl, Cerenna. But now...." She trailed off and Jaime expected she would say to use such names was foolish. He was sure that she by now realized that they could not use such names if they were to ensure they did not arouse suspicion. Finally, she continued. "Now I realize we should name the baby after Tyrion." 

Jaime let go of her hand, not in anger but in shock. He sat there his mouth agape, trying to find the right words to say. 

Her brother's shock amused Cersei. "Don't look so surprised. He brought us back. Lannisters always pay their debts. This will be my way to atone. Since I am unlikely to get pregnant again, even if the baby is a girl we shall name her after him."

"You would name a daughter Tyrion?" asked Jaime finally finding his voice.

"Of course not. If it's a girl I will name her Tyrionna. Or perhaps Tyrianna to honor both Tyrion and our mother."

"That's rather touching of you, but we are no longer Lannisters and such names would arouse too much suspicion."

"Would it really? He was Hand of the Queen for that dragon bitch. I'm sure plenty of people named their children after him." 

Instead of further arguing the point. he opted to ask her why she liked the names Cerion and Cerenna.

"I would have liked for our child's name to follow our naming traditions but still be somewhat unique. Cerenna is such a pretty sounding name and our family hasn't used it all that often. Cerion is the male form of my name as you well know. And also Cerion Lannister was a great warrior and ruler. But I'd rather name the baby after Tyrion as I've told you."

"Both of those names will be rather rare in the free cities. They might arose suspicion."

"It matters not. I'll likely name the baby after Tyrion. But what names do you like?" she asked to his surprise.

He was ecstatic that she had asked. He had names picked out for decades. Names that he both thought she would like and that would fit in with the free cities naming traditions. Names that he had long ago resigned himself to the fact of never being used.

"Well, I've always thought Teos, Tion or Leon would be good names for a boy. I like the name Cleo as well, but free city names don't tend to begin with C," he replied, trying to sound casual.

"Cleo? I suppose it does sound nice. We've had Cleos in our family of course but I think I like it much better without the S at the end," she replied approvingly. "And why those other names?" she asked.

"As you know Tion is a name our family has used thought rarely, but also a name I've heard has been used in the free cities. So it wouldn't arouse suspicion. Teos is a name that fits the free city naming traditions as well and I figured you may be partial to T names. Leon is another name I thought you might like that also fits their naming traditions."

"Those names sound rather nice. Have you thought of girl names too?"

"How about the name Saerlena?" he asked.

"It's a pretty-sounding name. How do you spell it though?"

"The ae spelling is commonly used in free city names for girls. So it begins S-A-E and ends R-L-E-N-A"

"Hmmm. Perhaps I could call myself Saerlena then? I know I can't keep my name much as I would like to. Cersei is too rare a name."

"Tyrion gave you the name Anna in honor of our mother. It's one of the simpler names found in the free cities. Besides, I thought we were talking baby names here," he teased.

"Anna is too plain. It would need to be something other than just Anna."

Jaime laughed, "True it doesn't suit you. Saerlena does and of course it is a name that fits in the free cities."

"Well I do hope you have other female names to suggest for our baby as I know nothing of their naming traditions. Though I really wish to name our child after Tyrion. Do you really think it so risky?"

"A bit. I suppose we will have to see if you're right. If people really have named children after the hand of the dragon queen."

"The Mad Queen you mean. Though I suppose nobody will see it that way," she said bitterly.

"Another name I like is Leonaella," said Jaime quickly getting back to the subject of names before Cersei could get more upset.

"How did you come up with that name and how do you spell it?"

He spelled it out for her and then explained, "Leonaella like the name Saerlena fits the common free city practice of names having an A followed by an E. It actually was a tradition that was started in Old Valyria."

"I think I remember being taught that. I must admit I've always liked the sound. Though I do hate to give our child a name at all associated with the Targaryens."

"You used to love the Targaryens. Used to want to marry one even," he stated a bit too bitterly.

"That was a long time ago. Now I'll always remember them as not only the House that thought us not good enough but the house that stole my Throne."

"If it makes you feel any better about things I don't think that she will be sitting it."

"Really? Why not? She has a dragon and thousands of soldiers."

"Tyrion won't let it. Not after what she's done," Jaime stated confidently.

"She will kill him."

"Not if he or another kills her first"

"I'd love it if we heard news of that but I doubt it will be the case. Who do you think would sit the Throne if she did die?"

"I don't know. You aren't thinking of..." Jaime trailed off worried.

"No. Of course not. I meant what I said in The Red Keep. I want our baby to live. If we go back for the Throne they will die just like all our others." Cersei paused for a minute before continuing. "If it's truly a risk to name the baby after Tyrion we will perhaps go with one of your names. Must admit I'd feel a bit disappointed. I was always so terrible to him, yet he still brought me back."

"I'm sure he would understand. Besides, I doubt he will ever be able to meet the child anyway."

"Yes, the free cities are vast I doubt he will find us," Cersei replied sadly.

Free cities? Was she planning to not settle in Pentos, but another city? Traveling further in her condition would be unwise. Either way, he doubted she would want to row further so they were certainly heading to Pentos first. He decided he would ask her tomorrow if she planned to settle in Pentos or elsewhere. He should broach the subject of a house name while they were on the topic of names. "Have you thought of a house name?"

"A house name?" Cersei asked blankly.

"Yes. A house name. We certainly can't use the Lannister name."

"I'd never given any thought to such. Don't most of them not have house names?"

"The poor and lower class typically don't. But your crown, rings, and necklace should provide us with enough to live an upper-middle-class life."

"I see." Cersei was quiet for a moment and seemed to be in deep thought. He knew better than to interrupt her when she got like this so he just stayed quiet and waited for her to speak.

"Drumm." she finally said.

"Drumm? Why Drumm?" he asked, curious.

"I don't wish to discuss it. Not now." Quickly she changed the subject. "How do you know so much about the naming traditions in the free cities?"

She seemed a bit upset when she said she didn't wish to discuss it so Jaime decided not to press the matter. "We were taught about it during our teachings."

"I'm sure we were taught such things but I can barely remember such. Certainly not as much as you and I was always the better student."

"I used to hope..." he trailed off, embarrassed.

"What?"

"That you would run away with me. To the free cities. It wasn't just a spur of the moment thing that time I asked you all those years ago. There were many more times I tried to broach the subject as well but you always took it to be a joke. It wasn't. That's why I know so much about their naming traditions."

"Aye. Well....I...I am now," she replied sheepishly.

Now that you have no choice was what he wanted to say. Instead, he said, "It's late. There are still at least a few more hours before sunrise. We should get some more sleep."

"I suppose so," Cersei replied awkwardly cuddling against him. Though he put his arm around her she sensed he was upset with her now, though she couldn't figure out why. Nonetheless, she was still tired, and sleep once again came easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I scare you at first? The name Saerlena is you might have guessed it my way to pick a name honoring Lena Headey because I love her portrayal of Cersei and that's my attempt to honor her whilst choosing a name fitting the free city naming traditions. I originally was going to have it be Caerlena but no C names would come up for me on the free cities female name generator. I would love to know what you guys think of it and of the potential baby names they discussed! Love them? Hate them? What's your favorite? My apologies if this chapter was a bit boring but I wanted to let you guys know the baby was fine and to give them some sweet time before shit hits the fan so to speak. All comments are welcome and if you see any mistakes (hopefully there aren't I did proofread this) please point them out.[](https://statcounter.com/)


	4. Leaving The Island

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cersei and Jaime's final encounter with the monkeys and they depart from the island.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who commented on the previous chapter and thanks to bronzeblues, Shilnt, Mary :P, and parrillasquinn for giving input regarding names! If more of you would like to do so you're still welcome to! :) Also I hope everyone eventually got the notification for last chap as email providers apparently have been having issues since a03 changed their IP address https://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/16117
> 
> Some notes now regarding the travel time. I'm using this map https://atlasoficeandfireblog.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/asoiaf-known-world-new-mountains.jpg  
> I've tried to research to make this as accurate as possible, but alas there isn't too much info about how many miles per hour it takes to travel by rowboat. I'm getting everything from people saying it would be about a mile to 10 miles an hour. I want them to get to their next destination sooner rather than later so I'm going with the faster travel times.
> 
> It's about 320 miles from Kings Landing to Sharp Point according to a post I read here https://www.reddit.com/r/gameofthrones/comments/8aigvw/spoilers_how_far_is_dragonstone_from_kings_landing/ I couldn't find how far from King's Landing to Sweet Point but judging by the map I'm thinking about 280-300 miles? If I'm having them travel too fast just assume the wind is on their side helping the rowboat along lol. 
> 
> Also, If the boat they showed Jaime looking at before fighting Euron is supposed to be the boat Cersei and Jaime were to travel on then I think Tyrion's crazy. That looked to be a rowboat and you can't usually row across a sea lol. Dunno how he expected them to make it. I guess we're to assume Esso's seas are different. Tyrion did say sail but that def looked to be a rowboat with paddles so no idea what the writers were thinking with that one. tbh I sorta wish I'd gone with that boat not being the boat they were meant to leave on but I guess it was fun having Cersei have to row like that and having them on that island with the monkeys!

When Jaime next woke up it was first light, which meant the sun would start to rise in under an hour's time. 'Perfect timing' he thought, pleased that the day was off to a good start. Cersei was still sleeping peacefully in his arms. He carefully untangled himself from her. He would let her sleep a bit longer, while he caught some fish.

As before he undressed so that his clothes wouldn't get wet. He was already hungry, so before getting to work he decided to have a few bananas from Cersei's pile. She had so many that he knew she wouldn't miss any. Then he quickly got to work setting up the net and catching their breakfast. 

By the time he was satisfied that he had procured enough fish for them both the sun was rising. He took a moment to enjoy the sight then secured the net with the fish inside and glanced in Cersei's direction. She was still sleeping. He hated that he would have to wake her, but unfortunately, he would need her help with the fire again.

It wasn't until he got closer that he realized his clothes were gone. He looked all around confused. He was sure he had left them in this spot. He noticed that the pile of bananas Cersei had gathered was gone as well. Had Cersei awoken sometime in the past hour or so and moved the bananas and his clothes, only to go back to sleep? While he stood in his name day suit and pondered this Cersei stirred. She was waking up. "Jaime?" she asked groggily.

She hadn't any time to ponder why Jaime was standing naked above her nor admire the view before he asked, "Did you move my clothes and the bananas?"

"What?"

"My clothes. I took them off to go in the water to cast the net and now they're gone. I laid them right next to the banana's that were here which are now gone as well."

"How in seven hells would I have moved your clothes? I was sleeping!"

"I thought maybe you woke up and moved everything somewhere." Once the words were out of his mouth he realized what had likely transpired. The monkeys. Jaime had forgotten all about them. They hadn't bothered him or Cersei all night and he had thought they had seen the last of them. But perhaps they had retaken the banana's and taken his clothes as well. He was about to voice this to Cersei but she beat him to it

"I bet it was the..." Cersei stated.

"Monkeys." he finished for her. He had always loved finishing her sentences. Sometimes she was annoyed by it, other times she would find it enduring. A few times it had even aroused her. This time she seemed mildly amused by it, though perhaps she was more so amused by the fact that monkeys had run off with his clothes. 

"Yes, the monkeys. I guess you will have to go get them back," she stated, clearly suppressing a laugh.

"Would you at least come with me? This is your fault after all."

"My fault?! My fault?!" Her amusement seemingly gone she seemed annoyed with him now. How was she to blame any? He was the one awake!

"If you wouldn't have aggravated them by taking all the bananas back to our camp I wouldn't be in this predicament," Jaime stated, also annoyed.

"So what was I supposed to do? Simply forget how that stupid little beast attacked me?"

"Actually yes! You have to learn to let some things go! It's a fucking monkey for crying out loud!"

"Hmm. Interesting thought. Well, good luck with finding your clothes."

"Fine." he stomped off clearly pissed.

"Wait!" He stopped and turned to look at her. Unable to hide the amusement from her voice she spoke. "Actually you know what. I think I will come with you. It isn't as though there is anything else to entertain me on this island and this should provide ample amusement."

"Well, I'm pleased this amuses you. Need I remind you that you have a long day of rowing ahead and this is only delaying our start?"

"We have a long day of rowing ahead. I've figured out a way that you can help."

Before he could ask how with one hand he could at all help, Cersei spoke again. "Will you run the little beasts through with your sword when you find them?"

"If I can get to them. They'll probably be up in the tree. When we get closer be quiet. I might be able to sneak up and steal back my clothes without incident."

"Yes, because being quiet worked so wonderfully for me with those little beasts," Cersei replied sarcastically.

"Well, have you got a better idea?" he asked irritated.

"We could throw rocks at them. Perhaps one would connect with one of their ugly little heads."

"And have an angry mob of the rest of them coming after us? I don't think so. Just be quiet. Please."

Cersei rolled her eyes but agreed to be quiet.

They had barely been walking for a minute when Jaime spotted a shoe on the ground. His shoe. They stopped and he grabbed it. He looked around and even behind some trees for the other one, thinking it must be nearby. Not seeing it anywhere he gave up and they resumed their walk.

It was less than a minute later that they reached the tree where the monkey who had bothered Cersei seemed to live. Jaime's clothes were hanging on a branch just out of his reach, A monkey was next to them eating a banana. Slowly and quietly Jaime lifted widows wail, hoping that he could use the end to grab or knock his clothes down. This action didn't go unnoticed by the monkey, but Jaime was faster and managed to get his clothes down. 

Quickly he grabbed them off the ground, then followed Cersei behind another tree so that they wouldn't get hit by the bananas the monkey had begun throwing. Jaime quickly examined the clothes. They didn't look to have monkey feces on them at least. They didn't smell too great, but he had been wearing them for over a day in the hot sun, he and the clothes both unwashed. He got dressed vowing silently that as soon as they got to Pentos he would buy new clothes. Both for him and Cersei. He wondered why Tyrion had not given them changes of clothing if the servant quarters were really accessible as he had claimed, unless....

"You look deep in thought," Cersei commented.

"Nothing important." Telling her that he had concluded that their clothes had come off of actual dead servants would be one truth he would spare her. "But, I'm still missing a shoe. Can you help me look around here?"

"I see little point. It could be anywhere. Even up in a tree. Just get new shoes in Pentos."

"That's still a ways to walk half barefooted! And some of the terrain will be rocky!"

"You may get some cuts but I'm sure a maester can mend them. Of course, you might find it rather unpleasant to walk for a week or two." She was speaking from experience here. Both her feet had needed mending after her walk of shame years ago.

Jaime sighed, "Fine. I will look for them myself."

"Could you not? Or at least wait? I'm hungry."

"Just a few moments. It shouldn't take long."

"Very well then, but hurry."

After several minutes of searching nearby, he resolved that they must be elsewhere. Frustrated, he headed back to where Cersei was. He saw that she had decided to occupy herself by gathering more bananas. 

"What are you doing?" he asked wearily.

"Obviously retaking the bananas that monkey stole. Since you clearly cannot climb a tree to kill that little beast this will be the only justice I get."

"Do you want them to come and bother us at our camp?"

"They will not dare, and they would not have dared before had I been awake. Wherever we decide to settle had best have none of those wretched beasts!"

Again she had hinted at not settling in Pentos. This time he couldn't help but voice his opinion. "Wherever we decide to settle? I thought that we would settle in Pentos."

"I don't think that wise, though I certainly wish to head there first. One of the other free cities will surely be safer. We can travel the rest of the way by wagon."

"I don't see anything wrong with settling in Pentos but we can discuss this after we actually get there." He didn't think she should be traveling further in her condition. However, he just wanted to eat and get on with the long day ahead of them. Getting into an argument would do neither of them any good. Besides that, there was still plenty of time left to discuss the matter.

"Let's head back to shore. You obviously aren't going to find that shoe," she stated.

He agreed with her on that front but her unwillingness in the matter annoyed him. "So I am to spent the rest of our journey with only one shoe?" 

"I suppose so."

"This is your fault, so perhaps you could at least let me look for as long as I'd like."

"My fault? Perhaps you should blame your incompetence. How could you not have heard or seen monkeys running from camp?"

"I was out in the sea, You were right there. How did you sleep through it?"

"I suppose I was more tired than usual since I have been the one doing all the work to get us here!"

Jaime sighed. This wasn't going to go anywhere. "Fuck it. Let's just get back to the camp and make a fire so we can eat. I'm sure we are both eager to get off of this island." 

Once they arrived back at camp they set to work making a fire. It seemed to take just as long if not longer then the first time. Finally, it was made and they proceeded to eat in awkward silence. In between bites of food, Cersei informed him that he had one working hand, not zero and that he would row on one side and she the other.

"I don't think that will work very well. We would have to be next to each other for that to work. The dingy is too small to sit side by side. What you're suggesting would make the boat unsteady." he commented.

"You're just being lazy." she accused.

"It won't work well. But I suppose we can try," he sighed in defeat.

It was then that he remembered that he still had to tell her that they were off course. That his fuck up had cost them perhaps several hours of time.

"Cersei?"

"What?"

"I made a mistake."

"You've made hundreds of mistakes in your life. I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific."

"We're a bit off course for Pentos. I just made a mistake in not giving you the proper directions, but it's not a big deal, It's nothing paddling the boat more north won't fix though."

"And how many hours has this mistake of yours cost us?"

"A few or perhaps several hours."

She looked at him with murder in her eyes, "Great, just great!"

"I'm sorry."

Cersei sighed, "I feel like such an idiot! I know the quickest way to Pentos isn't a straight path. If I would have just stopped for a moment to think! But I was so worried about the baby and then you distracted me with stories of the North."

'Stories you insisted upon hearing.' was what he wanted to say. Best not to upset her even more though. "I'm very sorry. And as you've said I'll be helping row now so it's as much me as you that will suffer now."

Cersei was quiet for a while while they continued to eat and he thought that was to be the end of the matter.  
"Jaime?"

"Hmm?" He didn't like her tone, it was the tone she used when she was about to inform him what was going to happen. There was no arguing with her when she used that tone.

"I believe your foolish mistake may actually be a blessing."

"A...blessing?" he asked dumbfounded.

"Aye. We are on course for Rambton."

"Why would that matter? We can't go to Rambton. We'd be recognized the second we got on land."

"There may be a sailboat there we can use to take to Pentos."

"What would we do? They aren't just going to let us take a sailboat."

"We'll wait till night. It will probably be night by the time we get there anyway. We will steal one."

"And then what happens in the morning when they notice a missing sailboat? They'll come looking and find us."

"Then we'll stow away on a cargo ship if they have one docked. I don't care. I cannot row to Pentos. Not even with you now helping!"

"That plan won't work either."

"You want to know what won't work? Me sailing a rowboat across the sea! My shoulders and back are already killing me! Blackwater Bay is one thing, but the sea? How did Tyrion think such a thing possible?"

"I admit it does seem risky. But it's our only option."

"Why should you get to decide what our only option is? You set us on the wrong path. Had you not been so stupid we wouldn't even be on course for Rambton."

Jaime sighed. This was sure to go badly but there wasn't any convincing her. However, perhaps he could suggest a slightly safer alternative. "Since you insist on this why don't we head to Sweet Port instead?"

"Why would Sweet Port be any better? If I recall better it is more populated than Rambton."

"Be that as it may, House Sunglass went extinct during the battle for the living. Until some new lord takes it over things will be chaotic. Perhaps that will work to our advantage."

"Alright, I suppose."

Once they finished their food Jaime grabbed the sack which held all their worldly possessions. Oddly it seemed to have been left open. Shit. The monkeys! Anxiously he checked inside the bag. Cersei's broken crown, rings, and necklace were all still there, as was the food and remaining jug of water. The copper coins he had had in his pocket when he died Tyrion had even taken care to put in. It looked like a silver stag was now included as well. The monkeys thankfully had not stolen anything. He breathed a huge sigh of relief. He could just imagine having had to tell Cersei that they would have to live not only in exile but poor and in exile. 

His thoughts quickly drifted to the remainder of the journey. He wondered how in seven hells Tyrion thought they would be able to make it all the way to Pentos in a rowboat. They would surely have run out of water and died of thirst before even making it halfway. That was assuming that exhaustion didn't take it's toll first. Unbeknownst to him, there had been a scroll in the very bottom of the sack. A scroll that was written by Tyrion which stated that if he was able to, he was going to get Ser Davos to meet them on the docks of Sharp Point. They would then make the rest of the journey by sailboat, accompanied by Ser Davos. Unfortunately, the monkey had opened the sack in search of more bananas. When he had rummaged through a gust of wind had come and carried the tiny scroll right out of the bag and into the ocean. 

"The little beasts didn't take anything else of ours, did they?" Cersei asked. 

"It doesn't look like it. We should get heading out now. It's already later than the time we should have left."

Once he Jaime put their sack and his sword in the boat he helped Cersei load all of the bananas into the boat. Finally, they were ready to leave the monkey ridden island. It was nearly two hours later than they had hoped to head out. Jaime's stolen clothes and their slowness to start a fire had slowed them. The only bright side of the morning was that the monkeys did not bother them again. 

As they got into the dingy, Cersei reminded him that she expected his help this time. After a bit of back and forth, they finally settled on a position that they felt would be the most successful for this joint rowing idea that Cersei had come up with. It took quite some time, but eventually, they were able to get the hang of rowing in this manner and start making progress. Their positioning wasn't perfect, and rowing the boat in the manner they were required adequate coordination to make good timing. For the first hour or two, they made very slow progress. Eventually, they learned to work together well enough to travel at a decent speed.

They rowed in silence for a while before Cersei spoke, "Well, that was certainly an experience. I hope I never see another monkey again in my life!"

"You seem to have come out with rather the advantage from the whole thing," he stated nodding at the pile of bananas in the boat. "I'm the one who is missing a shoe."

"At least we didn't lose anything of importance,"

He sighed in annoyance. "Yes, because it is going to be great fun to make the rest of this journey with one shoe."

Ignoring that remark she asked, "We should arrive in Sweet Port in what ten, maybe eleven hours?"

"At the rate we're rowing? More like twelve or thirteen hours. Which I suppose isn't a bad thing. The more it is the dead of night, the easier to get to a sailboat undetected." 

During the journey Conversation was attempted by both several times. Each time they found that it wasn't such a good idea while they were jointly rowing. Any bit of distraction and their progress was slowed. They had to stay in perfect unison for this to work. She would have to wait to hear about the rest of his time in the north and he to hear of her last months as Queen. 

Sitting as they were made it awkward to eat, drink and piss, the boat nearly tipped over a few times when one of them would maneuver to do such things. Even Jaime's estimations it turned out had been far too generous. It took them sixteen hours to make it to Sweet Port. Thankfully they managed to do so without the boat tipping over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review, I love reading that people liked this! :) The next chapter is to be titled "The Calm Before The Storm" [](https://statcounter.com/)


	5. The Calm Before The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cersei and Jaime make it to Sweet Point. They discuss some things, including the house name she chose and other, more unpleasant topics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are about to get dicey for our favorite twins.

"Finally! Now, what do we do?" asked Cersei as they approached the shores of Sweet Port.

"Now? Now we hope that luck will be on our side and nobody will be nearby. Considering the time that may just be the case," Jaime stated. They didn't have any way to tell time, but he knew it had been at least several hours since the sun had set. He estimated that it was sometime in the middle of the night. It had been another day of them both being awake far too long without sleep. This time the stamina that they seemed to both have had after being resurrected had faded. He was exhausted and Cersei even more so. She needed to sleep soon. He was worried, both for her and the baby. He knew if she lost this child her will to live would be lost as well.

Once they finally made It to shore Jaime dragged the boat to land. Although the shore looked to be deserted he still drew his sword so that he would be ready in case of an attack. Cersei grabbed the sack holding all of their worldly possessions. Instinctively he reached to grab her other hand with the hand that was not holding widows wail, but then he remembered he had only the one. Awkwardly he dropped his stump, wondering if she had noticed. 

Spotting a sailboat in the distance towards the east he began to cautiously approach it. Cersei fell into step next to him.

As they got closer they could see that there appeared to be an old man asleep on the boat. Jaime turned to Cersei, "Perhaps we should find a different sailboat. There are others further away."

"The fact there is a man asleep on this boat means whomever owns it is either dead or away. That makes it a great choice for us to use on the remainder of the voyage," she argued. 

"It could be his boat," Jaime suggested.

"I'm sure if it were he would be sailing, not sleeping on it," Cersei replied rolling her eyes. 

The two continued to approach the sailboat and after a moment Cersei stated, "Sneak up and do it quickly and quietly while he still sleeps."

"Do what quickly and quietly?"

"Kill him, of course."

"Kill him! Are you mad?" 

"It's the best way. So he doesn't tell that he saw us."

He sighed knowing she was right. Another innocent life would be on his hands. At least this man probably didn't have a family who would miss him.

"I will stay here while you take care of matters. My clothes are dirty and disgusting enough, I'd rather not have blood on them in addition," she informed him.

He boarded the sailboat and examined the surroundings closer. The first thing he noticed was dozens of empty beer bottles, a half-drunk one, and a handful of unopened ones. Those would certainly come in use as they were low on water. There also appeared to be a medium-sized portion of salt mutton and a generous amount of pine nuts. The man whose life he was about to end was an older man, perhaps in his fifties or even sixties, skinny, with thinning brown hair, and drool was escaping from his opened mouth and onto his unkempt beard.

Jaime lifted his sword up and was about to end the man's life, when he hesitated. This didn't feel right to him. This man may be a drunkard, but he was innocent. He'd told Tyrion he didn't care about the innocents, but it had been a lie. Or maybe it hadn't been a lie, but he had lived with enough blood on his hands. Shouldn't dying and being brought back be a chance for him to finally be a better man? A man worthy of the title of knight, even if he no longer was such?

His hesitation did not go unnoticed by Cersei. "What are you waiting for? Kill him!" 

"He's just an unfortunate homeless man. He can cause no harm to us. We'll wake him and force him to go on his way."

As if on cue the man woke up. "Who are you?" he asked, slurring his words. Jaime paused unsure of what to say or do. The man glanced all around. He took in the sight of Jaime standing in front of him in his torn and dirty clothes and missing a shoe. Then he noticed Cersei further away on the shore in her equally as dirty and torn clothes. "You two look worse than I do."

Cersei fumed. "You hideous old drunk. There are probably bugs living in your beard. Jaime, kill him!"

"We need this boat. You need to leave it now," Jaime informed firmly.

"Why should I leave? This here's been my boat for months. I got everything here I need." Either the man was too drunk to be scared in spite of the sword currently pointed at him, or he just didn't care whether he lived or died.

"Just kill him!" Cersei yelled frustrated.

"Close your eyes," he told the man.

"Wait! I'll go, but can I at least take my beer with me?"

"Sorry. I'm afraid it could be of use to us. We're nearly out of water." 

Defeated, the man staggered off the ship. Quickly Cersei boarded the small sailboat and once Jaime unsecured it from the docks and they began to sail away.

"That was rather foolish. What if he tells someone?" she complained after a moment.

"Tells someone what?" 

"That he saw us!"

"He's a homeless man, likely with no house or standing. Who in seven hells would believe him?"

"People who notice a sailboat missing, that's who!"

"If anybody cared about this boat there wouldn't have been a homeless man making camp in it. Besides, it's not as though he knows who we are."

"Well, I certainly hope that your mercy doesn't get us into a bad situation." she paused and then in a calmer voice asked, "How long do you think it will take to get to land now?" 

"I believe we should arrive in Pentos in two and a half days to three days." 

"Three days? Three fucking days?! We've only a few bananas for food and barely any water!"

"We have some salt mutton and some pine nuts now as well, the man left them here. You can have most or even all of it, as well as all the water. I'll just drink the booze." Since Cersei didn't typically like to drink anything alcoholic while pregnant he figured this would be a fair solution. Things weren't dire, but if the journey failed to go according to plan they would be in deep trouble.

"It's too long to go without proper food....the baby," she stated worriedly.

"I know you're accustomed to more, but many of the poorer people of kingslanding typically made due with little to no food."

"And how did their pregnancies fare?" 

"I'm not certain. Some of them clearly made it to term or we wouldn't still have poor people." 

"Some of them! What wonderful odds," she said sarcastically. She paused then asked, "If we were still rowing when would we reach Pentos?"

"Probably not for another week. I believe I underestimated before."

"Well, then I am certainly glad we stole this sailboat rather than continue on the foolish way you would have had us continue to travel. We'd have died of thirst."

"I wouldn't have let that happen ever. There were islands..."

"Yes, likely more monkey ridden islands! I am sure glad we have a sailboat now!

Silence followed for a time before Cersei stated that she was tired. Jaime quickly agreed that he would stay awake while Cersei slept. He'd stayed awake for over twenty-four hours a few other times when just as exhausted. The boat would basically sail itself to Pentos with little steering needed. Somebody would just have to be awake to watch for bigger boats to steer their boat away from their path. First of course they both set to work emptying out all of the empty beer bottles that were taking up space.

When Cersei awoke he taught her how to steer the sailboat, and thankfully she got the gist of it rather quickly. Then it was his turn to get some sleep. It turned out that he ended up doing the majority of the watching that night and the following day. Cersei was exhausted and kept waking him up so that she could sleep more. He tried not to worry too much, it was likely the pregnancy, lack of proper food, and all the previous work rowing that had made her so tired. 

Towards the beginning of the second day when she had woken him up he decided to make conversation with her. "The house name you chose. Drumm. What was your reasoning for choosing it?"

"I told you I didn't wish to speak about it."

"You don't seem to wish to speak of anything as of late. You've barely said a word to me since we got on the sailboat. If this is the name you wish to use I'd like to know if there is some sort of reasoning behind it."

"Perhaps I will tell you if you tell me something first."

"What is it you wish me to tell?"

"That scar. The one you were bleeding from when you came to me. How did it happen?" 

This was the third time she had asked him since they had come back. The first two times she had asked he had changed the subject. He had not wanted to chance an argument while she had been rowing the dinghy. They were on a sailboat now so he reasoned that at least the only risk from talking about Euron now would be a terrible argument, not them or their possessions tipping overboard. "I'm sure you can take a guess."

"Surely not my guards?" she asked.

"Not your guards."

"Who would dare then?"

"Euron Greyjoy."

"Euron? I'd wondered if he managed to flee when the dragon bitch set the fleets aflame."

Jaime tried to suppress his jealousy. Why did she care about anything of what happened to Euron? It had occurred to him then that Euron had been heading towards the same secret entrance that he himself had. For the first time since they had come back to life, Jaime took time to ponder this. Had Euron actually loved Cersei? Worse, had Cersei loved him back? She wasn't like him, incapable of loving anybody else in that matter. She had felt something for Robert once. She'd even nearly ended their relationship before the birth of her black haired son claiming it too risky. He had doubts risk was the only reason, he had seen the way she had looked at Robert. Robert had been a disgusting womanizer, but he had been handsome, at least early in their marriage, and a king to boot. Euron Greyjoy was neither of those things, no matter what he had claimed. Cersei surely couldn't have fallen for him, could she have? He began to seriously wonder if she would have preferred the uncouth pirate with her right now. 

After a moment he felt calmed enough that he could form a reply. "Well, wonder no more. It wasn't her. It was all me. I killed him." He watched closely for her reaction, hoping he would not catch any hints of sadness in her expression.

Confusion registered on her face, "Why?"

"He came at me with a sword. Said that he would be the man who killed Jaime Lannister. Even offered to cut my head off if he won and bring it to you so I could kiss you one last time."

"That does sound like Euron," she agreed. She paused then asked, "How exactly did you defeat him without your sword hand? I suppose that valyrian steel must be quite powerful."

"Valyrian steel?" he scoffed cockily the way he quite commonly used to do years ago. Cersei hadn't seen such an attitude from him in quite some time. "I didn't even have widows wail at the time. I had a regular, sword, no better than his." Still, in spite of his cocky tone, he was hurt. He couldn't believe she had such little faith in him. 

"I never even noticed!" Her thoughts had been entirely on him and their baby when he had come to her. He could have been wielding Lightbringer itself and she would not have noticed. "Why didn't you have widows wail with you?"

"It was confiscated by Daenery's soldiers when I was captured."

"How do you have it now then?"

"Tyrion must have managed to get it back before he resurrected us. I suppose I should have asked him how. That must have been quite the story."

"Well, it's too bad that he didn't take care to get us some better clothes as well. My shirt has a tear in the back and these shoes are too small for me."

"At least you have shoes," he stated, still blaming her for his lack thereof.

"I can't see why you seem to blame me for your misfortunate. If you'd kept a better eye on the shore you surely would have noticed monkeys running off with our things."

It was futile to retort back. It wouldn't change things, not her mind, nor the fact he would make the rest of the journey with one shoe. Other matters were bothering him far more now. A moment of silence followed before he just couldn't help but voice his concern. "Do you wish that Euron would have won the fight? That it were him here now with you?" 

"Of course not! But it is unfortunate you had to kill him. Had he lived perhaps he would have managed some sort of assault against her."

"With the Iron Fleet destroyed and most of his men likely dead? I somehow doubt it." Anger that she seemed somewhat saddened by Euron's demise he continued. "You'll just have to accept the fact that she won. She's probably sitting on the Iron Throne right now as we speak. Might even have a glass of wine in her hand while she does so." He wasn't sure he even believed what he was saying, he was just angry and lashing out.

Cersei didn't reply and he reasoned that either she had nothing to say to that, or more likely was intentionally choosing to ignore him. Silently she moved as far from him as possible, which to her chagrin was not that far as the sailboat was rather modest.

He knew he was pushing things, but she had promised to tell him why she had chosen the family name Drumm, so he followed her and reminded her of such.

"Perhaps another time. You've annoyed me. I don't wish to be in your presence right now." 

"I've annoyed you? You've annoyed me!" he protested.

Rather than reply to that she just informed him she was going to sleep, after all that was why she had woken him in the first place. Wisely he decided not to press things further.

When she next woke up he waited a while to gauge her mood. After some time he successfully made some small talk with her. After that, he once again asked about the surname.

"If you really must know. Drumm was Qyburn's family name."

"I had no idea. Does anybody know this?"

"If you're worried that my connection to him will give us away, there is no need. Nobody but me knew."

"Are you certain of this?"

"The Red Keep can get rather boring at times. We talked. Quite a bit actually. He had a most interesting life." What she really meant was that she was lonely and with him gone she missed having somebody to talk to, but there was no way she was going to admit that.

"I'd love to hear about it."

"You never cared any for him."

"No. I didn't but perhaps you could tell me anyway. After all, if it hadn't have been for me you two never would have met."

"Alright. I suppose I can consider this my debt paid to you for bringing him into my service. Since we Lannister's always pay our debts."

Not wanting to remind her that they were no longer Lannisters he kept quiet, waiting for her to continue.

"He left home as a young man to study at the citadel. He gave a false name as he didn't wish for his family to know where he had gone. His family had betrothed him to a girl nearly as hideous as that Tarth beast as just as dull."

Why did she have to insult Brienne? Brienne was a good woman, honorable, and with hopes and dreams. Dreams he had crushed when breaking her heart. He hoped wherever she was right now that she was long past crying over him. He couldn't stop himself from voicing his disapproval. "You shouldn't say such things."

She gave him a confused look. "You asked me to tell you what I knew of him."

"I mean such insults about lady Brienne. She wasn't dull nor so hideous as you make her out to be."

"Why are you defending her?" Cersei asked, eying him suspiciously.

"She's honorable and kind."

Cersei laughed. "As though such things matter. It certainly landed her neither a husband nor respect."

"She's also an excellent knight."

Cersei laughed again. "That she certainly was not. Women can't be knights."

"Who says so? I'll have you know I knighted her when I was in the North."

"You didn't mention that when you were telling me of your time in the North," she replied hurt. 

"It must have slipped my mind. It wasn't a big deal really."

"Not a big deal! Why did you do it? No, never mind. I don't care. It neither changes the fact that she was dull nor the fact that she was hideous."

Should he tell her? No. Not now, he reasoned. He didn't want the memory of their first conversation about their new house name to be tainted with such a revelation. He decided to steer the conversation back to Qyburn. "You know, I actually recall House Drumm. Learning about them when we learnt of all the houses I mean. They're the ones with the skeletal hand on a red background aren't they?" 

"I suppose so." Cersei had other things on her mind now. Why was he defending Brienne the beast and why did he seem to know so much about her? She feared what she had long suspected was true, yet she was far too weary to confront him now.

"What are their house words?" 

"From Death Comes Life."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously."

"Well, I must say that doesn't make any sense though it is certainly fitting given our predicament."

"Indeed so." A moment of silence followed before she spoke again. "Shouldn't you get some sleep? I can watch for ships and direct us away from them if need be", she stated.

"I'm not actually that tired." he protested. It was a lie, he was exhausted, but he didn't like her dismissive attitude. Nonetheless, Cersei got her way and he did sleep soon thereafter. 

[](https://statcounter.com/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I know what you're thinking if this is the calm before then what will the storm be like? Well, you'll see in next chapter. It will be very explosive. Please review, I love all reviews, long, short, even ones in foreign languages. I love to hear all your thoughts on this fic. I'm most curious if any of you suspected the surname she was considering would be Qyburns. Although Qyburns surname isn't mentioned anywhere in canon people have speculated that he might belong to house Drumm so I thought it would be fitting, especially given their sigil and history of necromancy. The house slogan I came up with myself.


	6. The Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaime and Cersei finally discuss the difficult things and things get rather explosive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this chapter is good, tried my best to make it engaging and in character.

It was their third day on the sailboat and their journey was nearing its end, they would make it to Pentos by nightfall. Following their argument, Cersei had been avoiding Jaime, and in spite, he had begun to do the same, both by the only way they could on the small sailboat, which of course was by neither being awake at the same time. 

Jaime had just woke up from a short but restful sleep, In truth, he hadn't even been that tired when he'd decided to nap, but Cersei's cold silence and glares were grating on him, and in these past few days he'd come to expect such behavior from her. What he hadn't expected was to wake up to the sight he did. Cersei was crying. Not just crying. Sobbing. He hadn't seen her cry like this since they had come back from the dead. She had shed some tears when they had been on the monkey ridden island as she called it, but this time rather than just tears rolling down her face she was sobbing, almost hysterically so.

"What's wrong?" he asked. 

She ignored him and he asked again.

She wiped her tears away and forced herself to calm down. She didn't want him to see her this way. Why was he awake now? He hadn't been sleeping that long!

"Cersei?" The name had escaped his lips before he'd realized his error. He would have to get used to using her new name. They wouldn't be able to afford such slip-ups in Essos.

"It's nothing," she stated after a few minutes.

"Nothing? You're crying because of nothing?"

"The baby isn't moving again. What if it's died because I haven't had proper food in days?"

He sensed that she was crying over more than that but decided to reassure her about that particular worry. "You haven't been going without that much. You've had bananas..."

She cut him off then, "I don't think I ever want to eat another banana." 

She had eaten dozens of them in the past few days, finishing the last of them yesterday, so to hear her say such wasn't surprising. Undeterred he continued, "You've also had salt mutton and lots of pine nuts. In any case, we should make it to Pentos before nightfall."

"And then what? Thanks to you not killing that man people will probably be looking for us. I am surprised he himself did not seem to recognize us!"

"We were dirty and dressed in rags and he was drunk out of his mind. You worry for nothing," he stated. In truth, if the man did put two and two together it would be her fault for referring to him by name. His old name. He wasn't about to tell her that though, it would at best cause her to worry more and at worst cause an argument.

"Perhaps you should worry more. You might be less careless then."

He decided he needed to somehow get her mind off of her hunger and worry. "Tell me about your time in the Red Keep. What happened after I went North?" 

"Do you think I really want to talk about that when I will never be Queen again?"

"Then tell me something you do want to talk about."

"I don't want to talk about anything,"

"We should talk about something. I'm not tired any longer and neither do you seem to be. We have several hours until we reach Pentos and it will make it pass quicker."

"You want to talk about something? Fine. What happens when we get to Pentos?" 

Why was she asking something of which the answer to was obvious? "Obviously we find a place to get a meal and somewhere to stay the night." 

"And then what?"

"I don't know." Why was she asking? She'd obviously already made up her mind that they would not be staying in Pentos. 

She was quiet for a few moments and he thought the conversation over when suddenly she looked at him as though he had greatly wounded her. "You didn't kiss me." 

"I...what?"

"Not before we died and you haven't after."

"We've been in dire circumstances."

"We've been in dire circumstances our entire lives. It's never stopped you before."

A moment of silence passed. "Are you going to say anything?" she asked.

"What do you want me to say?"

"Anything. You could start with why you left me!"

"You threatened to have the mountain kill me, what did you expect?"

"Only because you were a damned fool. What good did you as a one-handed man do for the North anyway?"

"I could have done a lot more if I'd had the Lannister troops!"

"Well, the living won anyway, didn't they? So you left me for nothing."

"That's not true. I kept my promise to fight for the living. I showed that I was a man of honor and helped defend you and our child against the dead."

She scoffed at that. "You made no difference in that battle! And look at what good your honor did! My reign ended and Kingslanding in ruins! You should have found a way to kill her when you were in The North!" 

"That we can agree on, but I do not regret going North." 

A few more moments of silence followed and she turned her back towards him. He knew they should talk about things but she was already so upset with him. The past few days he had begun to wonder if it might be better if she never knew the truth about his relationship with Brienne. Now finally he reached a decision. He would not tell her. It wasn't as though he was lying to her, he just was refraining from telling her something which had happened. Unburdening his conscience would be selfish, after all, It would only upset and enrage her.

Cersei's voice cut through his thoughts. "You would have left even if I hadn't threatened to kill you." 

He detected the sadness in her voice that she was trying to mask. Still, he didn't deny it. "I made a vow."

"A vow to our enemy. Just as you did all those years ago."

"If you mean the Stark girls that was years ago and I didn't expect them to be found alive."

"The Stark girls. The fight against the dead. Do you think I did not notice the common factor in both?" 

"The common factor? You mean that I wish to be a knight actually worthy of the name?"

"No. Her."

"Her?" 

"Yes her. If she or rather it, can be called that."

His stomach dropped. He was glad Cersei was still facing away from him. for he feared what reaction he was showing right now. In as steady a voice as possible, he asked "She?" as though he did not already know of whom his twin was referring to.

"That ugly cow. Brienne. Brienne of Tarth." 

He realized now that he would have to tell her everything, she might even have irrefutable proof, though why she had not confronted him sooner was a mystery. Before he could form words to break the news gently she was speaking again. "I talked to her at Joffrey's wedding feast before that old bitch murdered him. I knew she loved you. She didn't even try to deny it, she just excused herself from my presence! That she had our family sword at the dragon pit didn't escape me either." 

"Our family sword?" he asked dumbfounded. "Are you referring to Ned Stark's sword?

She turned towards him finally, any earlier traces of sorrow now replaced by cold fury. "What else would I be referring to? That traitor's sword became our family's sword the second that we had it melted down and reforged! I knew at that wedding feast that she loved you. I never would have thought you could love her back. Yet it's so obvious now. While you were in the North you had some sort of relationship with that ugly beast. Perhaps even promised to marry her. Did you fuck her too? Was it like fucking a man?" 

Loved her? She thought he loved Brienne? He tried to form words to explain that yes, he fucked Brienne. Yes, he had felt something for the honorable pale-haired knight. It hadn't held a candle to what he felt for the woman sitting with him in this rowboat. He had made his choice and did not regret it. He opened his mouth to reassure her that in the end, he realized it was only his twin, his other half that he could truly love. "In a relationship with her? Yes, that I was, but..." 

"But what? I have always always been faithful to you! And you couldn't do the same?!" Knowing the truth for certain she slapped him across the face hard as she could.

The slap didn't surprise him, though he'd made no effort to block it. He had only been surprised it hadn't come earlier in the conversation. He rubbed his stinging cheek as her words sunk in. She had always been faithful? Had she gone completely mad? "You've always been faithful?! That's a fucking laugh."

"I have."

"Euron Greyjoy? Lancel Lannister?"

She looked shocked. "Lancel? How...."

"Tyrion told me one night in the North." 

"You were gone. You left me! And I needed him!"

"I was captured! And you needed him to what? Comfort you at night? I'm sure it must have been terribly hard for you being in The Red Keep surrounded by maidservants and eating fancy food while I was in capture."

"Need I remind you who else was in the Red Keep with me? I needed Lancel to kill my oaf of a husband."

"What? A boar killed Robert," he stated confused.

"Of course it did. Because I had Lancel get him drunk enough that he would make a mistake," she stated triumphantly.

He looked at her shocked. He'd had no idea. All this time he had thought Robert's drinking had finally done him in. He supposed it still had, but he never would have suspected Robert was goaded on to drink by Lancel of all people. "That was your plan? Get him drunk and hope he made a mistake? And you say I'm the stupidest Lannister."

"It worked, didn't it?"

Well, she had a point there. Still, he'd wanted to kill Robert for years and she'd always told him the time wasn't right or it was too risky. Apparently it was Lancel who she finally considered worthy enough to do the old boar in. He felt jealousy stir in him. 

"You know, if you had wanted Robert dead so bad I would have certainly helped with such a plan. You didn't need to wait until I was kidnapped and then go behind my back and fuck and conspire with Lancel!"

Cersei fumed. He dared to lecture her on something she had to do, when he himself had been exchanging sweet words and kisses and who knows what else with that ugly beast? If she wouldn't have been so angry she would have explained her reasoning. She would have explained that she couldn't risk Robert becoming wise to his murderous scheme and sending him to his execution. His death would have devastated her. 

Lancel's death at Robert's hands would have been a different story. The boy been smitten with her, a boy of nineteen in love for the very first time. He would have never indicated her involvement, of that she had been certain. His death would have made her feel a brief flicker of sadness but ultimately she would not have given it another thought. He had been the perfect person to take care of her awful oaf of a husband. It wasn't cheating. It was what she had to do for herself. For them. Why couldn't Jaime see that? 

"I saw no need to tell you. Lancel helped me do what needed to be done. Nothing more."

"If you thought your plan was so justified, why did you never tell me of it? I had to find out from Tyrion, years after the fact." He paused and looked her square in the eyes. "How many times have you lied to me?"

"Lies?! You dare to speak to me of lies? Were you ever planning to tell me of your little tryst with that giant cow? You seemed quite contented to not say anything until you knew I knew."

"You want to know the truth? Until her, I never fucked anybody else but you in all my life. Yes, I fucked her. Many many times. And you fucked Lancel Lannister! And Euron Greyjoy! And you probably fucked the court jester too for all I know!" 

"I fucked Euron Greyjoy because I had to! You left me in a sea of enemies and false friends! Qyburn was the only one I could trust! He knew well as I did that I had to convince Euron the child was his! I couldn't exactly do so without sleeping with him!" 

"What happened to your whole spiel about telling everybody that I was the father? I suppose that was just another lie of yours."

"I wanted to! Then you left! What was I to do?"

"And if I had stayed you expect me to believe you would have told the world I was the father?"

"What should it matter? You fucked that ugly man-woman before then, hadn't you? While you were her prisoner. I knew I should have had Qyburn check for her maidenhead!"

He certainly had not done such and he was insulted that she would even suggest such a thing. He reasoned that he shouldn't assure her that no he hadn't. Why did she deserve to know such a thing when she was so unapologetic for fucking Lancel and Euron? And had there been others? And how could she act as though she was the wronged one when her sins didn't even end there? She had ordered his death for fucks sake!

"So, is that why you sent Bronn to kill me? Because you thought I was in love with another woman all these years?"

"No."

"Then, why?"

"You left me to die, what did you expect?"

He didn't expect that answer and couldn't hide the shock from his voice. "I left you to die?" 

"When you left to ally with the Dragon bitch," she clarified. He was now looking at her as if she truly had gone mad. It was the same look he had given her when she'd first told him Tyrion had killed Joffrey. The same look he had given her when she'd told him Tommen had betrayed them both. She hated that look. 

"I left to fight the dead."

"Yes, because of her." 

He wasn't sure if she was referring to Brienne or Daenerys. It mattered not. He had left to prove himself an honorable man. How could she not see that she wasn't the only one who wanted to be remembered in the history books? 

"Our child would have died if the dead had marched south!"

"Our child did die! We died! You as one man made no difference in that stupid little war."

"And it would have made a difference if I'd agreed with your plans to send no troops and stayed with you in The Red Keep?"

"Perhaps if you had stayed you would have been able to figure out a way to do away with those dragons."

"I'm the stupidest Lannister. I couldn't possibly have been of any use to you," he stated bitterly.

"I suppose you're probably right there." 

"Perhaps if you had sent our troops North Jorah Mormont would not have died."

"Why does that matter? I'm glad that traitor is dead." 

"Well, my point is that perhaps if he had lived and perhaps if Euron fucking Greyjoy hadn't shot down one of Daenery's two remaining dragons and captured Missandei perhaps Daenerys wouldn't have done what she did."

"You can't blame me. It wouldn't have changed anything. She was as mad as her father."

"Is anybody ever truly mad? Or do people just do mad acts because people drive them to do such?"

"So the mad king wasn't mad then?" she retorted.

Her reminder of The Mad King stung and he found himself at a loss for words. "He was....he was...insane. Daenerys had her sanity, she acted out of hatred and vengeance. Much like you did many times."

"So you blame me then. Well, perhaps you can sail us on back to Westeros and get yourself a lovely castle, perhaps even Highgarden, for turning me in to that dragon bitch."

"I would never do that." 

She was silent. Several moments passed before Jaime could stand it no longer. "I do not see how me riding North, when I did not even have any men with me equates to me leaving you to die."

"When you joined the North what did you think would happen to me when she came back with her troops and dragons?"

"I suppose I hadn't thought of it much."

"You hadn't thought of it much? Why? Too busy making plans with your hideous beast?"

He ignored the last part. "I simply assumed you would either step down for the sake of our child or be captured and released to me or Tyrion."

"I would never have stepped down! I was the rightful Queen! And if you really thought that she would have ever done that then you are the mad one."

"Perhaps so. Perhaps not. Certainly not after you had Missandei beheaded, perhaps not even before that, after Rhaegal was shot down it may have already been too late. But before that? I suppose we'll never know." He paused then asked again, "So explain again why exactly did you send Bronn to kill me? Which by the way, poor choice. The man's terribly easy to buy you do know."

"Perhaps I did it to see if he could be trusted." 

"That is a lie if I ever heard one. If you thought him unloyal you would have killed him."

"Perhaps I wanted to scare you."

He looked at her closely. "I don't buy that either."

She sighed, "You really want to know the truth?" She supposed there was nothing left to lose now. He clearly didn't love her anymore. He must have come back to save their child, not her. He probably had planned to raise it with the ugly cow. Anger raged inside her at the thought. She made a note to keep the jewels close to her and keep her distance from him. She would get far away from him before he ever had the chance. "You were there for so long in the North. I got no word of the Dragon bitches death. I knew if you were still alive you would have surely killed her. Unless you had allied yourself with her in support of her claim for the throne. You knew countless secrets, including the secret tunnel into the Keep, as did Tyrion. I did what had to be done since you could no longer be trusted." 

The way she said it so matter of factly chilled him. "Why not send Bronn to murder her then?"

"I wanted her to suffer first. I had hoped to capture her and have the mountain give her experiences that even Unella did not get the privilege of." 

"I suppose I should be relieved you didn't wish the same for me. Though I must say I'm rather surprised you were willing to give Tyrion the same mercy."

"Yes, well so was I. Now if you don't mind, or even if you do, I would like to be left alone now."

He respected her wishes and it was not until they were approaching land that his statement of "Look's like we've made it." broke the stony silence that had lingered for the past several hours. [](https://statcounter.com/)  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review. Let me know what you thought of this chapter! Favorite part of the dialogue? Feel it was in char? Or even just let me know that you liked the chapter. Also if you can take a minute to drop a reply to another review (which isn't even specifically about the story) you can surely take a moment to write a sentence or two about what you liked in the chapter. Just mentioning cause a few people last chapter replied to some comment and it's really disappointing/demotivating to see people can do that yet not say anything about the story, not even that they liked the chapter.


	7. Pentos?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cersei and Jaime arrive in Pentos or so it seems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for being away for so long! I've still been writing but editing/proofreading not so much til today. I promise to update my other in-progress fics too in the next few days.

[](https://statcounter.com/) Having finally made their way to shore, Cersei felt so relieved that for a moment she forgot all of her troubles. She got out of the sailboat as soon as it was safe to do so, not even caring that her shoes got a bit wet in the process. It wouldn't matter. Soon they would be in a city and she would dry them by a fireplace and tomorrow they would buy new clothes and throw these wretched shoes away.

Even her disheveled appearance would only embarrass her for a brief time. She was certain that some of the inns would send food to your room, just as had been common in Westeros with the more reputable inns. She would insist that they stay at such a place. Once there she would order a hearty venison stew and some sweetgrass salad, and for dessert perhaps she would have a strawberry pie, all eaten under the comfort of several blankets.

She stretched her cramped muscles and ran further ahead, leaving Jaime behind to bring the boat ashore. As she further examined her surroundings she frowned. This did not look right. She turned back as Jaime was catching up to her. He seemed to be having trouble walking if his stumbling was any indication, but right now they had more concerning matters to deal with, "Are you sure this is Pentos? It doesn't look very busy or crowded." 

"We entered bay some time ago. Course, I'm sure," he stated.

"The bay of Pentos I hope you mean."

"Oft course e bay oft Pentas, at other bay would I mean?" he asked, slurring his words.

"Well, this doesn't look like Pentos to me."

"Ow would you know at Pentos loked like?" he asked, moving past her.

Cersei followed him reluctantly, "I don't of course. But it should surely be more crowded than this!" Having taken notice of his slurred speech and mispronunciation of words she added, "And are you drunk?"

"I finishhhed booze en I saw that we would arrive soon." he paused as a hiccup escaped him. "We're on the outskits of Pentos. Let's walk for a bit, te can't be far from the ity."

"The outskits and the ity? I suppose you meant outskirts of the city! And what in seven hells! I thought you knew how to steer a sailboat!"

"It an be difficult to get precite when you're not familiar with route."

"You've been here before though," she stated, accusatorily. He obvious drunkenness and poor speech was putting her in a piss poor mood, made even poorer by the fact that he had been here before, shortly after she had birthed her black haired son. He should have never gone on that trip, but since he had he should have known the correct way.

"I've been here once decades ago," he stated as if he knew what she was thinking.

He began to think back to that time and why he had left. It had hurt him too much to see the black-haired boy Cersei had birthed, and when he'd seen the way Cersei looked at Robert he had asked to be relieved of his duties for two fortnights. Robert had been in an especially good mood due to the birth and had agreed without question. Jaime had actually considering starting a new life in Pentos, but in the end, he had realized a life without Cersei would be empty and meaningless, and vowed to win back her affections.

In the end, he had gone back nearly a week before the agreed-upon time, determined to put a stop to any affection Cersei felt for her husband. Thank the gods he did come back because the little black-haired boy had died mere days after his return, the boy had made it to one month, but would not make it to two.

It was Robert who was with her when they took the boy away, but it was Jaime who was with her in the days and weeks which followed. It had been Jaime who held her every night while she sobbed for the child she would never hold again. When she refused to leave her quarters, it was Jaime who made sure maids brought her food, and Jaime who ensured that she eat it.

Any affection she had for Robert died as he began to take up with his whores once again. Jaime knew Robert hadn't ever stopped, he had only been more discreet when Cersei had begun to swell with the child, but Cersei hadn't known that. When he started openly shaming her in public just days after the boy's death she vowed then and there to never birth a son of his seed.

The following year Robert took Cersei to Estermont, and of course, Jaime had come along to be her personal guard. "Who better to protect the Queen than her brother?" he had asked Robert. Of course, the fool had agreed, even smiling and remarking how Impressed he was with their closeness. Jaime could barely hide his laughter when Robert remarked how himself, Stanley, and Renly had never been that close and how he wished they had been. It had been on Estermont during one of Jaime's nights of "guarding" that they had conceived Joffrey.

"Perhaps we should get back in the boat and reset coarse," Cersei suggested, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"It will prolly e quicker jut to alk," Jaime argued.

"You want to walk? You've got only one shoe and can barely speak!"

In the excitement of getting to shore he had forgotten all about his shoe predicament. Still, it couldn't be too bad if he were careful. As for the booze, he couldn't be that drunk, he'd only had two or three beers, or however many had been left. He'd finished them after their argument earlier. He'd never been much of a drinker, his last time getting drunk had been sometime shortly after returning from Dorne with Myrcella's corpse. Cersei must be exaggerating, he couldn't be drunk, she was the drinker among them.

"I should hav sailed a bit and steed a bidt furter sooteast I oppose. E should just be e mile or so from pentos. We could use ze exercise. We've been coop up on at aleboat for days. Not to mention all da time on da diggy"

"Fine. You had better be correct though on it only being a mile. I am tired, hungry, and thirsty."

"Am sorry I dank all da booze."

Cersei sighed wearily, "Just be careful where you step. Even if your foot falls off I won't be stopping until we make it to Pentos.

"Ow wod at happen?"

Cersei rolled her eyes but stopped as they had made their way far enough from shore to arrive at a path. She asked, "Which way is it? I'm guessing we go left?"

"I'm...hic...not...hic...sure but...I....dink...hic....so," replied Jaime.

Cersei headed in that direction, hoping that is was correct. Jaime was now behind her, and stumbling along the way. They walked for a few moments before Cersei complained, "I have not seen a single person. I think we are farther from Pentos then a mile!"

*Hiccup* was her only response.

Now more annoyed than ever, Cersei continued on. They walked in silence, Cersei was not in the mood to talk after their earlier conversation, and regardless, Jaime was too drunk to carry on any conversation.

As they walked they passed by much farmland. They saw crops and various farm animals. They saw chickens, cows, pigs, horses, donkeys, and even llamas. Every time they saw a cow she couldn't help but think of the giant beast from Tarth. That had been one of her nicknames for her of course. Cersei gave a small smirk as she looked at the cows. She thought of several insulting comparisons she could make and she did make some, but to add to her annoyance Jaime was so drunk that he barely registered what she was saying, let alone that she was insulting Brienne..

A few moments passed before she realized how wrong she had been to ever call Brienne a giant cow. These cows were nowhere near as ugly as Brienne had been, and their breasts, which she had heard were actually called udders, were far bigger than the Maid of Tarts...err Tarths had been. Then she reminded herself that thanks to Jaime Brienne was not a maid anymore and her amusement quickly dissipated.

As they walked away from the cows and passed by a large meadow with horses, Cersei wondered if they would see any elephants on their walk to Pentos. She knew they were wild animals, but if the Golden company had domesticated them perhaps others had as well. She wondered if she would be able to see one up close. She was still bitter that the golden company hadn't been able to bring her any.

It was perhaps nearing an hour into their walk that they saw their first-person in the distance, a boy playing alone with some marbles on the porch of his family's small house. Along the way, they had passed a few houses, all of which were rather spread out. By now Cersei was rather doubtful of Jaime's claim that they had landed only a mile from Pentos. They surely would have arrived in the city by now if that had been true.

The boy looked to be just eight or maybe nine, but since they didn't know when they would next see somebody Cersei cautiously approached him. "Excuse me, boy?"

"Yes, mam?"

Old habits die hard and Cersei started to reprimand the boy about his lack of respect when Jaime's slurred voice cut in, "Cer..*hiccup* remememberrrr whooo we are ow."

She stopped herself, "Nevermind about what I said about proper titles. I was just simply wondering if your mother or father was around. I'd like to ask them how far we are from Pentos."

"Oh. Daddy's on the farm somewhere and mommy's cooking dinner."

"Dinner! It is evening then?" Cersei asked rhetorically.

"Of course. Didn't you learn how to tell time? When the sun is..."

"I do not need a lesson in time from some little country fool!"

"You're mean!"

"I am not! Now go and get your mother."

"No!"

"Cerr..."

"Janos!" She was worried that in his drunken state he was about to use her old name, so she cut him off by using his new name.

The boy on the other hand had thought Jaime was saying Ser and addressing him. He'd never been called a ser before! "Yes?" he asked eagerly.

" I apol...apol....sorry...for my wiffs behay...hay...ver. Plea ring your motherrrr out."

"You're talking how my daddy talks when he is mean to mommy," the boy stated sadly.

"Ayebe if yer mammy as nicerrrr to hem he won't be mean to er," Jaime stated insensitively.

The boy got angry upon hearing that. "Go away! Both of you!"

"I will not!" Cersei protested.

"Et's go," Jaime stated, tripping and only not falling because Cersei had grabbed him to steady him.

"Fine. I see another house further down the road anyway." Cersei stated, annoyance flickering in her eyes.

They walked further down the road. This time there was nobody outside. Cersei decided to knock on the door, but first instructed Jaime to stay behind a bit. In his drunken state he would be of no use.

"Come in!" shouted a female voice. Cersei frowned, unsure if she should enter. She hesitated a moment before deciding that she may as well. She needed to know how long they had until they got to Pentos and all they could see in the distance was more farmland. If it was too far perhaps they could buy a horse from these people. They certainly looked to have plenty.

As she stepped into the house she saw that a teenage girl sitting on the sofa. Her long golden blonde hair looked identical to how Myrcella's had been. Cersei stared in disbelief, lost for words.

When Cersei's eyes met hers the girl stood up in alarm, clearly expecting someone else to have entered.

"I...I thought you were the neighbor," she explained, sounding a bit frightened. When she spoke Cersei inched closer and could now clearly see that the girl's eyes were an icy blue, like that of Robert, Euron, and that Tarth beast. Seeing this she quickly snapped out of whatever trance she had been in. She was about to say something when the frightened girl yelled out, "Father! Mother! There is a begger in the house!"

A begger?! This girl thought...how dare she! Cersei was about to give the girl a piece of her mind when a woman and man around her and Jaime's age came rushing in from one direction, followed by a stumbling drunken Jaime wielding Oathkeeper from the other direction. Damn it. She had told him to stay put.

The father spoke first. "What do you two want?" he asked suspiciously.

Cersei's stomach rumbled as she noticed a wonderful smell that temporarily made her forget the girl's rude comment. Clearly, dinner was being cooked. She wished she could have some of the tasty food, but her pride would not allow her to ask for such a thing. They would be at Pentos soon and she was certain the food there would be superior in addition to being more plentiful.

"Oh my! They both reek! And the man looks drunk," commented the mother.

Before Cersei could form a retort, Jaime had spoken, "Pentos....hic...we...hic...where...is...Pentos?"

"Is that all you want?" asked the mother. "It is eleven miles that way." Eleven miles! Cersei felt as if they had already walked that much. Luckily the woman had pointed in the direction they had been heading, elsewise Cersei might have strangled Jaime right then and there.

"Eleven miles?! That is too far for us to walk. We will require a horse. Surely you will sell us one," suggested Cersei.

The woman scoffed, "Sell you one? You look as though you cannot even afford the ragged clothes on your back!"

Cersei burned with anger, but to her surprise, the man spoke up in her defense. "I think these two might just surprise us. You shouldn't be so rude, Helanah." He turned towards Jaime. "We will trade you a horse for that sword you are carrying."

"But that man cannot..." The girl began before her father shushed her. "Let the man consider it for a moment. Eleven miles is not so long of a ways to walk, but his wife looks to be pregnant and sunset will surely come before they reach Pentos."

"My dearest Jaqio why should we care about them?" stated the woman, who Cersei realized must be Helanah. Cersei could see the rage in her eyes and in another time, another place she may have even been impressed, but now she was just worried.

"It's the polite thing to do," replied Jaqio.

Even in his drunken state, Jaime realized the trade was not a fair one. Widows Wail was worth far more than any horse! But they needed to get to Pentos and the jewels they carried hidden in their sack were also far more valuable than any horse. He stumped his brain trying to think of any solution before one dawned on him. "Borrow?" he asked simply.

"Of course. Just give us the sword and take a horse, or even two. You can come back another day and we will trade back," stated Jaqio.

Cersei realized this man must have realized the sword was special in some way, even if he perhaps hadn't realized it to be valyrian steel. She doubted this man had any intention of returning their sword to them if Jaime agreed to this deal. "No. We..." she started.

Jaime on the other hand was too drunk to notice the cunning in the man's eye and cut her off mid-sentence, "Of....hic...cores...corts...course," he stammered. moving closer to make the trade.

"Janos! No!" Cersei exclaimed, positioning herself in front of him.

The man smiled, amused at her antics, "Move aside lady and let the men make their trade."

Cersei was aghast. It was bad enough they had forever lost one of their family swords to Jaime's stupidity. She wasn't about to lose another. Not this time. Of course, Jaime had foolishly lost it himself before Tyrion managed to retrieve it for him but she wasn't about to lose it for good. They may have to sell their jewels to make a home and have wealth to live on, but not the sword. No, they would hand down that sword to their child one day. On their death bed, they would tell the story of who they were and what that sword represented. She'd be damned if some country fools would prevent that from happening. 

She spoke with the authority of a Queen though she no longer was one, "We will do no such thing! Janos! We need to leave now."

"Doooo you eally ant tooooo...hic...alk to Petos?" asked Jaime

"Of course not! But think about it you fool! How will you defend me with no sword?" They hadn't had the one that Jaime had used to kill Euron. It had been left behind. All they had was widows wail, which Tyrion had returned to Jaime after resurrecting him. Cersei felt slight annoyance towards Tyrion for that. The other sword may not have been valyrian steel but she would have gladly wielded it. She made a note that when they settled somewhere Jaime would help her remember how to use a sword. Though she had just been a girl when she had last done so it was something she still missed.

Jaime looked at her closely before reluctantly slurring out his agreement.

"We will walk to Pentos if need be. We do not require a horse from you," stated Cersei.

"Your drunkard of a husband doesn't look at though he could even stay on a horse anyway. Get out!" commanded the woman.

"That is no way to talk to our guests," scolded her husband gently. "You are correct though. Perhaps the two should sleep it off here and head out when morning comes."

"Are you insane? These two came from who knows where smelling and looking as though they laid down with rats!" protested his wife.

Cersei began to fear that if they turned and left now the man would use violence to acquire the sword. Quickly she decided on a diversion to buy them some time."Excuse me, we would love to stay here. However, my husband here has to use the privy. Might we find one somewhere nearby?"

"No I don't!" protested Jaime.

"Yes you do!" argued Cersei.

"Of course it's just up..." started Jaqio.

Helaenah cut him off, "He can use the outhouse outside!"

Cersei repressed a smile. She had been hoping on that so that they could discreetly get away from these two. She pulled Jaime away and in his drunken state he followed murmuring slurred words of protest. As they descended the steps Cersei glanced back to see Jaqio whispering something in Helanah's ear.

A moment later, Helanah rushed out after them, offering for them to stay the night, even going so far as to detail the tasty food they would be served. Cersei pulled a confused Jaime away as he slurred out how wonderful it would be to stay. The daughter came out and asked Helaenah what she was doing. Jaqio came out as well in an attempt to persuade Cersei.to stay. She politely declined as she continued ushering Jaime away, fear in her heart. The daughter even tried to convince them to stay though she seemed unaware of why her parents were so adamant on it. After several attempts, the family gave up their attempts to persuade them and retreated inside. Cersei breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Cersei continued to guide a drunken, stumbling Jaime away from the house. After a few moments, she let go of him. He was drunk but not so drunk that he couldn't walk without help. She glanced back to see that Jaqio was coming after them with a sword. Shit. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nervous after going so long without posting, I hope you all liked this chapter (or at least not hate it). I thought we needed something less serious/depressing after the previous chapter, but don't worry in the coming chapters I'm sure there will be more drama, and of course, they will eventually talk things out. And I almost made Cersei the drunk one but thought this would be funnier and less expected. As always comments are much appreciated!
> 
> edit: Was expecting more of a welcome back than that. Very disappointed. Seeing as most of my regular reviewers are MIA (left fandom maybe or just didn't like new chap?) I've decided to check back in a few months to see if either people return or new people take their place. As it stands now my motivation is at like zero. I do have 3 more chapters rough drafted but I don't really feel the motivation to edit them to make them ready for posting. Fanfic is free and seriously reviewing only takes a few seconds. You can just point out your fav part or line in the chapter or even just a good chapter would help. It's the least you can do as a reader.


	8. On The Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cersei comes up with a plan to get away from Jaqio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back with a short chapter. I've got a few chaps rough drafted and I'll try to post updates biweekly or weekly now.

[](https://statcounter.com/)She couldn't let Jaqio catch up to them. She hadn't trained with a sword since her girlhood and in his current state Jaime would be of no use. She glanced around, eager to find somebody or something that could help them. Finally, she came up with an idea that would hopefully at least slow him while they got away. She opened the gate to the farm's chickens, then walked a bit more, and opened the next gate full of sheep, followed by the gate with the pigs. She hesitated a bit before the gate of cows. Those things were big and ugly and as her thoughts turned towards Brienne she hesitated, she had enough bad luck with cows lately and these things looked big enough to trample her. 

She then remembered that she had heard cows were relatively calm, and even more importantly they needed to keep the Jaqio as busy as possible, so reluctantly she released them. 

Having spotted a house not so far in the distance, Cersei hoped that if they could make it there while Jaqio was preoccupied and that he would not want to risk causing a scene and cease his hunt.

Jaqio yelled curse words after them, and her plan seemed to work as he quickly turned his attentions towards capturing his numerous escaping animals. In the distance, Cersei could hear as he called his wife and daughter for help.

She easily dodged the escaping animals, but Jaime in his drunken state tripped over a runaway chicken, scraping his knee, though in spite of that they managed to get safely away from the insane family.

They continued to walk and saw the occasional house and sometimes the occasional person, and definitely lots of animals, though of course no elephants to Cersei's dismay. They even saw a wagon pass by but it was heading back from the city. 

They weren't making as good of progress as Cersei had hoped for, thanks to Jaime being too drunk to walk a brisk pace. She hoped the inns in Pentos would not be full by the time they arrived. She wanted to yell at him, scold him for getting so drunk. Surely he may have been thirsty with nothing else to drink, but he didn't have to have drunk so much!

After some time they passed by a small house with a lovely garden and a wonderful aroma emitting from the house. Cersei glanced and could see a pie cooling in the window. She could not help herself. She hadn't eaten anything that tasted as good as that pie smelled since she had been brought back. She told Jaime to continue on, knowing that in the state he was in even carrying a pie she could quickly catch up to him.

She ran back with the pie fast as she could. She glanced back nervously several times, but nobody was giving chase or even yelling. If they had been Jaime would have been of no help, for he was busy taking a piss in their garden. Too bad, those tomatoes had looked ripe and she would have rather liked one of them before he had pissed all over them. Oh well, at least she had the pie, and with any luck by the time her thievery was noticed they would be far away.

Once she made her way back to Jaime with the pie she thought to offer him some of it, but she was so hungry, she really didn't want to share. She was eating for two, and besides, in his state, he would probably just vomit it up.

Examining the pie more closely she could see now that it was a strawberry pie, with a crisis-crossed shaped golden crust on top of it. It looked just as appetizing as something one of her cooks would have made for her back in Kings Landing. Greedily she dug in as they continued to walk. As she ate she wished that she had something other than her hands to eat with, she felt like some savage eating in such an uncivilized manner, and she truly was starting to feel like a poor beggar type person now.

It wasn't long before Cersei had her fill of pie. About a third of it was left when she offered Jaime the remainder. If he ended up vomiting it up, it would serve him right for getting them into this situation.

As Jaime finished the pie the houses started slowly becoming less spread out. Cersei took this as a good sign, it meant they must be getting closer to the city. The sun was now starting to set. She was thankful that now they weren't seeing any more people, they would certainly look suspicious walking to the city dressed as they were so late in the evening.

Sunset finally came, but they continued to walk. In the darkness, it was difficult to see where they were going. Perhaps because he was drunk, or perhaps because it was so dark, it wasn't long before Jaime stumbled and tripped on a rock. He yelped in pain stumbling and falling down as he did so.

She almost wanted to lay down right next to him and sleep, her pride be damned, but Jaqio might still be in search of them. She looked and noticed blood gushing from the bottom of Jaime's pant leg. Was he injured? She hoped it wasn't too serious if so. It would be quite ironic if they made it this far only for Jaime to die on the side of the road from a wound. No, she wouldn't let that happen. They would get to Pentos. Hopefully, a maester would still be available by the time they arrived.

She helped Jaime up, which took several attempts. "Is it broken?" she asked concerned.

He slurred out that it wasn't, though how he could be certain in his state she didn't know. He seemed able to bear weight on it regardless, so she supposed it probably wasn't broken.

He winced in pain as he started to walk. After a few moments, he slurred out that he was still bleeding and they should stop the bleeding somehow. 

Cersei swore back that she was no maester and even if she could, it's not like they had any spare clothes to do such a thing. Besides that she couldn't even see in front of her, how was she supposed to bandage his ankle?

"My...hic...shirt," he suggested.

She rolled her eyes, not that he could see, but instructed him to sit down on the path next to her. He took off his shirt and the next several moments were spent fumbling around, with only the faint glow of moonlight to help her. Cersei finally managed to find and bandage Jaime's ankle by tying the shirt tightly around it several times. To her surprise, he didn't complain or even move while she did so. If it was a sprain he had it would certainly be difficult to walk with. She supposed she would have to help him and their pace would be slowed even more. She moved to help him up but he wouldn't budge. She scolded him but he did not respond. She shook him and again told him to get up, she wanted to get to Pentos already. Still, he did not respond. Was he....

No. He couldn't be! Cersei felt around and finally, her hands found his heartbeat. He was alive! He'd just passed out apparently. She breathed a huge sigh of relief. She would rest her eyes for just a moment and then would take great pleasure in slapping him awake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be posted on Dec 20. **Please review. I love any reviews, long, short, etc (so long as their about the fic and at least something positive, some concrit is ok tho)**
> 
> Also, please read my Just as Beautiful fic here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27780379 I know it sounds worrying at first but I promise it's something you will enjoy!


	9. A slow walk to Pentos

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cersei wakes up Jaime and they begin to walk the remaining way to Pentos

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still Dec 19th here but it's Dec 20th in some parts of the world, so here is the chapter as I promised :) Not a long chapter but longer than the last chapter.

[](https://statcounter.com/)Cersei opened her eyes, wondering where she was. She was lying on a cold, semi hard uncomfortable surface. Crickets chirped nearby and in the distance, something hooted. She felt something crawling on her and let out a yelp. She slapped it off of her, unable to see what it was in the darkness. As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes it all came back to her. She must have fallen asleep before she could wake Jaime.

It was all his fault. If he hadn't passed out. If he hadn't have drunk so damn much. Still, she decided to be nice and wake him by shaking, rather than slapping him. 

Once she heard the sound of him groaning in pain she breathed a sigh of relief. He grabbed his head in pain and asked where they were.

Instead of answering him, she smirked as she repeated the words he had told her many times before. "You shouldn't have drunk so much." She almost felt sympathy for him. Almost. Men were supposed to have a higher tolerance for alcohol, but that had never seemed to be the case for Jaime.

"Are we in Pentos now?" he asked confused.

"She shook her head before remembering that it was pitch black out and he could not see. "No. I have been waiting here for your drunken stupor to pass." Well, it was true, after a fashion. He didn't need to know that she'd been sleeping while she waited. Grabbing the sack she got up. "Come on. We should be able to make it before morning. I don't want the crowds seeing us in this state."

"It's coming back to me now. I wasn't trying to get drunk! That beer was all I had to drink on that boat. I was saving the water for you!" he protested.

"How noble of you, but I don't think you needed to have quite so much."

"My ankle. It hurts. I don't know that I can walk on it."

"Well, you haven't a choice. I want to reach Pentos by morning."

"Walking in the dark like this? No. It isn't safe. I could step on something and trip again."

"It isn't safe to stay here either. Remember that there may be a man out looking for us and that sword of ours. Perhaps now that you are no longer drunk you will be more careful," Cersei stated.

"I am not sure how that is of any relevance. It's not as though being sober would have given me the ability to see in the dark. As for the man, how long was I out for? If he..."

Cersei cut him off, "How would I know how long we were out for? Does it look like I have any way to tell time?"

"We?" asked Jaime.

"I meant you. Now get up! I bandaged the cut. You should be fine."

"I..." he started uncertainly.

"Just grab the back of my shirt and walk where I walk," sighed Cersei.

Jaime sighed but got up. He felt around in the dark until he grabbed her shirt. Slowly they began to walk the remaining way to Pentos.

It was still dark when they first spotted lights far off into the distance. Pentos! Of course, there would be lanterns ablaze to illuminate the city. Cersei probably would have appreciated the sight more if she hadn't been so exhausted. Her feet were aching ever so much. With every minute that past she was growing more annoyed and impatient with Jaime and his slow pace.

"I can't believe we finally made it!" he exclaimed, breaking her out of her thoughts.

She refrained from commenting that they had not made it yet and with his slow pace it would be some time before they did. It was a happy moment and she didn't want to spoil it. He may very well plan to leave her once they arrived and go back to find that beast of his, but for now, she felt grateful. Even if he didn't care for her anymore he at least had cared enough for their child to insist Tyrion have her brought back. All that mattered now was the child inside her womb.

As they walked the remaining way to Pentos they made small talk, discussing what foods they would eat, and what things they would buy. Cersei wondered if there would be elephants. In response, Jaime wondered if there would be lions, and Cersei remarked, that, of course, there would be lions, they were still lions, death, name changes, and crumbling kingdoms could never, would never change who they were.

Once they finally stepped foot in Pentos Cersei breathed a sigh of relief. She looked around her. This was definitely a city! Straight up ahead was an inn just a short walk away. The sign on the inn read "Pentos Inn". Well, they wouldn't get any credit for creativity, but at least this confirmed they had made it to Pentos.

Next to the inn on the left was what looked to be a clothing store, to the right of the inn was a brothel, and next to that was a pawnbroker. They'd apparently arrived in the less respectable part of Pentos, which seemed to be the part Tyrion had mentioned to them. The pie and their long nap hadn't sated her and Cersei was so tired and hungry that she just wanted to sleep. They'd stay here for the night, then move on to a better part of town, If he didn't try to leave her by then that was. Well, he wouldn't be getting far with no gold and she would see to it that he wouldn't get his hand on any of the jewels.

In his excitement, Jaime grabbed her hand. He struggled with his emotions as they held hands and took in the sight. He was full of mixed emotions. She'd lied to him a thousand times. She'd slept with Euron Greyjoy. She'd promised to help the North then told him he was the stupidest Lannister when he'd planned to follow through with said promise. Worst of all, she'd sent a man to kill him! Yet in that moment he neither contain his excitement nor hide his relief. This had been his dream for years, though of course, he'd always hoped it wouldn't be under such dire circumstances and not because she had no other options.

Cersei looked at him shocked. Nervously she asked if he was ready to go to the inn and how they would pay for it.

"Tyrion put some of the coins I'd been carrying with me in the sack. It should be enough for a room."

Cersei began to speak but paused. They had seen their first person in Pentos. A balding, middle-aged man was leaving the brothel with a grin on his blotchy face. She lowered her voice, "We can't use that!"

"Why not?" he asked. His head was pounding and his feet ached something terrible, especially his right ankle. He was eager to get into a bed already.

"Westeros coins? It will arouse suspicion."

"Pentos has travelers from Westeros all the time," he argued.

Cersei sighed, "Its not...well...do we have anything else?"

"We could give him one of the jewels and ask for him to pay back the difference," Jaime suggested.

"That would arouse even more suspicion! Ugh. Forget it; let's just go in." she reached into the sack and took out some coins. "Wait. Here. Is this enough? You should know how much it cost since you've been here before."

The bitterness in her tone went unnoticed by Jaime, "It was a long time ago. But I think this should be enough."

They headed to the inn. When they got inside The innkeeper was a thin, curly-haired brown-headed, olive-skinned man who looked to be in his late thirties. He greeted them warmly and Jaime asked what sort of room a silver stag would afford them. 

"We haven't got much left at this time of night nor will this coin afford you much," he informed.

"What will it afford us?" asked Jaime.

"A small room on this floor. With just the basics."

"The basics?" asked Cersei.

"One single bed and a small fireplace."

Cersei nodded, disappointed that they would be staying in such a simple inn, but relieved that the innkeeper hadn't remarked on their method of payment, Jaime must be right that Westeros coin was often used here. "What time is it exactly?" she asked curiously.

"It's just past four in the morning, or four at night, whichever you prefer to call it," replied the innkeeper. "Would you like to be woken up come sunlight?"

"No." Cersei and Jaime both replied in unison. Both wanted to sleep for as long as possible.

"Alright then. The room is yours until noon. It's down to the left, number thirteen carved into the door," he stated handing them a key.

"Wait. Do you have any food? We didn't get a chance to have supper," stated Cersei.

"The kitchens are closed for the night. I have some mint tea and two blood oranges which I'd planned to eat soon. I will let you have some tea. " He paused, "Are you pregnant?" he asked, noticing the way she protectively had her hand on her belly.

She smiled, "I am indeed. Six months along."

"Then you may have one of my oranges as well as the mint tea for you both."

Cersei hated mint tea, it was the same flavor as the stuff used to clean one's teeth and she had never understood the appeal of it. Nonetheless, she accepted graciously and thanked the innkeeper as he handed them to her. The blood orange at least looked fresh and ripe and had no blemishes. She couldn't help but feel a bit insulted that he hadn't even charged a copper for it. Did they look that poor that people were now taking pity upon them? Her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. She made a note to find the baths as soon as they awoke.

She carried the orange and the tea while they walked to their room, feeling somewhat annoyed that there was no servant to carry the items. She wanted nothing more than to sleep and wake up to breakfast in bed, followed by a bath drawn by her servents, but those days, she finally admitted, were gone forever.

Once Jaime unlocked the door and they stepped inside Cersei glanced around the room. It was far beneath any room that she had ever stayed in before. Mysterious stains decorated the bedsheet and pillow, of which there was only one. The bed was small, she and Jaime would not be able to avoid touching as they slept. She felt nervous at the thought. Her thoughts quickly turned to the last time he had shared a bed with someone and it upset her that it wasn't her. A part of her wanted to seduce him, make him forget all about that Tarth maiden turned whore, but if her resulting uncertainty from their argument on the boat wasn't enough to halt that idea, her aching bones and intense urge to sleep certainly were. Perhaps tomorrow, when she was more well-rested.

Jaime frowned upon seeing the small bed. His drunken sleep hours ago hadn't helped his weariness any. After days of sleeping on floors made of wood or dirt he wanted nothing more than to lay down in it and sleep as long as possible. He knew however that Cersei was used to sleeping in King and Queen sized beds. Would she be safe to share such a small bed with him? No, it would probably be too risky, he didn't want to chance her falling off and possibly losing the baby. It would have to be the floor for him tonight again.

"You can have the bed to yourself. I'll sleep on the floor." He had already turned his back and failed to notice Cersei's hurt look.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be posted 2 weeks from today (January 3) BUT If 12 people with at least half of those being registered a03 users give some sort of at least semi-positive feedback before Christmas day I'll post it on Christmas day! You could say what your favorite thing about the chapter was or speculate what you think will happen now that they reached Pentos, etc.


	10. A Bath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cersei and Jaime have a bit of a delayed start to the day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said I'd post on Jan 3rd but the last chapter got so much response so I decided to post a few days early! :) My apologies that this isn't the most plot progressing of chapters and my pacing is a bit slow for the next few chapters.

[](https://statcounter.com/) Cersei awoke to the sound of knocking. She grabbed her head and groaned in pain. She wanted nothing more than to lay down and sleep more. Even worse, she felt as though she was about to vomit. No, she was going to vomit. Quickly she turned and vomited into the nearby chamber pot, wishing that whoever was at their door would just go away.

Jaime was just waking up. He rubbed some sleep out of his eyes before remembering where he was. Concern etched across his face as he turned to look down at her. Whether his concern was for her current state, or the fact that someone was pounding on their door, she did not know. He apologetically stated that he should probably see who was at their door.

He got up, wincing in pain. His ankle hurt something awful. He definitely needed to see a maester as soon as they left the inn. His stomach growled, disagreeing with this sentiment. He made his way to the door, grabbing the sword as he did so. If somehow it had been found out that they were alive and here, he would not go down without a fight.

He opened the door to see a young woman who looked to be perhaps in her teens, standing in front of him. Being groggy and in pain from his ankle, as well as experiencing hunger pains, he just stared at her blankly. She fidgeted nervously before clearing her throat. She informed him that as it was now noon they needed to either go downstairs to pay for another day or leave. In the background, he could hear Cersei protesting that they would leave when they were damned well ready and not before.

"If...if the two of you refuse to leave you will be removed by force and have your possessions confiscated," the girl informed him nervously.

"I would like to see you try," threatened Cersei.

"It would not be me who removes you."

"Who then, the owner?" Cersei smirked. The innkeeper had been skinny, even what some might call scrawny. Jaime could easily take him in a fight, even without his sword hand.

"No. There is a man, Nakio who does it. He is about six and a half foot tall and a skilled fighter."

Cersei tried to ponder what to do. She didn't want to leave the inn in bright daylight looking like this. She hadn't thought they would sleep so long. She'd thought they would wake up before the noon check out time and have time to bathe and then some time to spare.

The girl sensed her discomfort and apologetically stated, "I'm very sorry, but these are the rules."

"Could you perhaps clean the other rooms first and come back to this one in an hour?" asked Jaime.

"I...I really can't."

He made his way to the sack with their possessions. He retrieved half of their remaining coins and held them up for her to see. "Are you sure?"

The girl eyed the coins greedily. It was far from a fortune, but she had no source of income, not that she needed for much since her job provided her a room and three meals a day. With this money, she could buy that beautiful blue dress she'd seen hanging in the shop, as well as some additional clothes and sweets as well. It was too good an offer for her to refuse. "I can come back to this room and clean it last. But if you two are still here when I return I will have to alert Nakio. I'm very sorry, but...."

Jaime interrupted her, "It is quite alright. We will be on our way in a short bit. Perhaps you could fetch us some water so that we may clean up first?" as he said this he retrieved even more coins from their sack.

The girl looked at the money in awe. This, combined with what she had already been given, would afford her to buy multiple dresses and multiple sweets. "Of course, I'll be back in a short bit."

She left and Jaime shut the door. A long, uneasy silence filled the room. Jaime broke the silence first, "Well, it will certainly be nice to clean up some after so long."

"Ah, yes. A sponge bathe. How wonderful," she replied sarcastically.

"Well I too would love a real bath but we should be grateful that she is allowing us time to do this," he snapped.

"Only because you gave her a bunch of money!" she paused then added, "I was going to wash up some of that monkey infested island but I remembered that time when we were children and had wandered far from Casterly Rock, and I washed on the shores. Never again." 

He remembered Cersei's and his very unpleasant experience with jellyfish. They had been around nine, and father had been away. In between lessons, they'd managed to sneak away. They'd enjoyed a day on the beach free of lessons, knowing that their septa would not speak a word of their escape, due to fear being sent away if word of her ineptitude got out.

"That? I got stung more than you when I rescued you."

"Well, it was a most unpleasant experience for me and it was all your fault!"

"How was it my fault?"

"The waters here are no different than the ones closer to home. Come on Cersei, it will be fun," she mimicked him.

"Well, you can hardly blame me. I couldn't have known. And you're the one who chose to swim off further away from me!" defended Jaime.

"After I thought it was safe!"

He was going to say something back but just then girl returned with the bucket of water. She turned to address them. "I included some rags for you to wash with as well. I will be back in about an hour. Please be ready to leave then."

Once the girl left, Cersei looked in the bucket. The water looked pretty clean. She took out a rag. Those had clearly seen far better days. "How do we do this, exactly?" she asked.

"We obviously. each take a rag and rub it on our skin to get the dirt off," replied Jaime. At that, he began to take off his clothes.

Cersei would have appreciated the sight more if he hadn't been so dirty and if she wasn't still so enraged at him for his affair with that hideous cow. "That is not what I meant! Our clothes are even dirtier than we are. But if you clean them, will they dry in time?"

"Considering I never started a fire in the fireplace, no."

"You could start a fire," suggested Cersei.

"There isn't time. Not if I'm to wash anyway."

"So I should start one then?

"As I told you before, there isn't time. Now unless you'd like to go into town with sand and bugs in your hair I would get cleaning."

"Bugs? Bugs?! There are bugs in my hair?! Get them out!"

"I don't know if there are. It's certainly a possibility though. When B...."

Cersei cut him off, "If you mention your whore right now so help me...."

"I don't recall mentioning you." The moment the words were out of his mouth he regretted them, but it was too late.

"I'm the whore? I fucked Euron to keep my kingdom! You ran off to the North to help our enemies because the women you were fucking wanted you to!"

"I hadn't done anything of the sort with Brienne at that point! And I wasn't even going to mention her. I was talking about Bronn. When we were.....nevermind," The last thing either of them needed right now was to be reminded of their dead daughter.

Cersei ignored him, but as she got undressed she pondered what Jaime had said. Had he really not fucked Brienne before that point? She should have felt relieved, instead, it made her worry more. Jaime had apparently been faithful to her, until that time in the North. Was he now being faithful to Brienne? Was that why he hadn't so much as kissed her? Worse, was he planning to return to Brienne with their baby? She doubted Brienne could get pregnant, any woman that manly had to be barren.

She tried to focus on the task at hand and force her thoughts off Jaime. She took the rag, squeezing water onto her hair. Sometimes she missed having long hair. Now was not one of those times. She worked the dried sand out of her hair, uttering a few curse words along the way. For the most part, she tried to avoid using such language. She considered such words to be more befitting of the lower class and overused by them. However, some situations called for such words. Right now, washing days of dried sand and dirt was one of them. The time she had told Septa Unella she fucked her brother had been another. She smirked at the remembrance. She wasn't certain which was her favorite memory of the tortured to death septa, that, or when Unella finally did her own confession, confessing that she enjoyed humiliating and degrading people, all under the guise of doing the work of the seven.

Turning her back away from Jaime so that he wouldn't ask what she was smirking about, Cersei moved to her body, scrubbing sweat and drit off of her skin. The Septa hadn't been the only one she had punished for that walk. She'd made certain to punish the especially disrespectful members of the crowd from that terrible day. Well, the ones whose faces she could remember anyway. The women had given Unella a brief reprieve from Ser Gregor, and the men had become as she called it "Theonified". Revenge had been sweet and thinking back to those happy memories Cersei nearly forgot where she was as she scrubbed the grime off her skin. That was until Jaime interrupted those thoughts. "This won't be so bad. We'll buy new clothes first thing when we get in town. I'm sure we can find a public privy to change in somewhere."

A public privy? Disgusting! For now, though Cersei supposed they had bigger concerns, "Do we even have enough money for that?"

"I think we should have enough to buy a change of clothes or two for us both and a meal too of course. It won't be long though before we need to sell one of the jewels. Have you decided which one you wish to part with first?"

"I hadn't thought of it. I only know which one I don't wish to part with."

"The crown?" asked Jaime rhetorically.

"The crown? It is broken just like my rule has been, as though it is mocking me. Do you really think I would wish to keep a broken crown?" she asked incredulously.

"I didn't think..."

"You don't think a lot of times. Certainly not while you were in the North!" snapped Cersei.

"And you thought too much. Too much about the crown and your rule. Look how well that worked out for you, you died!"

"So did you!"

"Because I came back for you!"

"For me? Don't make me laugh."

"What did you think I came back for?"

'For the baby. Or perhaps it was a sense of duty,' she wanted to say but stopped herself. She wasn't going to let her insecurities show. She was a queen. Or so she had been. Nonetheless, she would never be a weak woman who begged for reassurance from her lover. As she neared finishing her washing, his words from moments ago came back to her. He may have apologized, but did he really think her a whore?

Jaime declined to reply to her, instead choosing to focus on the task at hand. Before their argument, he was going to ask if she needed help washing her back. Instead, he continued to wash, wondering when, or even if things would be back to normal between them. Not that he even knew what normal was anymore for them. 

A part of him just wanted to take her in his arms, but he could not. He would not. Not with her being so unapologetic about all her wrongdoings. Euron fucking Greyjoy was one matter, the fact that she had fucking sent Bronn to kill him another. Did she want him dead still? Perhaps she wished that Euron had won the fight. Would she have smiled if Euron had come to her rescue, telling tales of the pathetic one-handed knight who had come back to her thinking she would ever again want anything to do with him? 

Perhaps she would have kissed the disgusting pirate and thanked him for yet another job well done. Perhaps they would have even had a good ole laugh at all of his failures. Euron certainly had accomplished more than he had. At least in Cersei's eyes. He'd managed to not only bring Myrcella's killers to justice, but he'd killed one of the dragons as well. He burned with rage thinking about how thankful Cersei probably had been and just what things she might have done to show it. He wished with all his heart that he could go back to that fight and make Euron's death ten times more painful.

Finally, he finished bathing. He'd been in such a rage that his skin looked red. He forced away thoughts of the past. They had things to do and these thoughts would not change anything. They'd discuss things once they were both well fed, rested, and had gotten some much-needed supplies.

He examined his still bandaged foot. He could see the makeshift bandage had soaked through, but he had nothing clean to replace it with. At least the blood seemed dry, which meant at some point it had stopped bleeding. He cursed himself for not thinking to ask the girl for a bandage at some point. 

Silence hung in the air as they put the dirty servant clothes back on for what would hopefully be the last time. Neither felt much cleaner, but at least they wouldn't be embarrassed. Well, not as embarrassed anyway.

"Let's leave before the servant girl comes back. We have a lot to do today. I cannot believe we both slept until nearly it was nearly midday." Jaime stated. Cersei had always been an early riser, and himself even more so. The day certainly wasn't off to a great start. Sleeping until nearly noon, having to venture into town looking like homeless people, and worst of all Cersei unapologetic for her wrongs while berating him for all of his. This was definitely not how he had ever envisioned the first day of their new life starting.

Cersei said nothing but moved to grab the sack and followed him out of the room.

"I am starving," Jaime stated once they were finally downstairs. He hadn't eaten since yesterday afternoon. They approached the innkeeper, and Jaime inquired as to what foods were available to order.

"We don't serve food here."

"You....don't....serve.....food?" asked Cersei, slowly. An inn that didn't serve food? Surely she must have misheard.

"We're an inn only. We haven't space in the common area to fit tables and chairs."

"I don't suppose you could have your cooks us up something regardless, we're very hungry," explained Jaime.

"Would if I could. Lunch has already been made. There is a place just a few steps away that serves a wide variety of food."

Jaime sighed defeated, and turned to Cersei, "Come on. I am so hungry that I could eat a dog."

Cersei was still in such shock that this inn didn't serve food that as Jaime escorted her out, she didn't even try to protest and demand the innkeeper serve her. She had never heard of an inn that didn't serve food. Certainly not in Westeros. But they were no longer in Westeros and things were clearly different here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this wasn't the best chapter, but please review :) I'm doing a contest. I'm at 979 comment threads now across all my stories! Whoever is my 1000th comment thread starter will get a 2000-3000 word fic of Cersei/Jaime in whatever setting/situation you choose! Rules: Winner's comment must be at least 50 words long if you've not reviewed anything of mine before and 25 words long if you have reviewed before at some point and must say at least something positive about the fic (ie no winners who just give a bunch of crit and nothing else). Actually, to keep things fair, until I reach 1000 threads I'll be deleting anything negative or off-topic, so they won't even count towards it.


	11. An unfortunate turn of events

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cersei and Jaime visit a diner to eat but things don't work out how they'd hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another slowish chapter but hope you guys enjoy it anyway! There is a somewhat emotional scene with Cersei getting rid of something that was once dear to her.

[](https://statcounter.com/) They left the inn and headed outside to finally see Pentos in the light of day. They quickly found that the streets were crowded and noisy, though no more so than Kings Landing. The main difference was the smell or rather lack thereof, which was certainly a good thing.

"That place there must be the place he was talking about," stated Jaime as they arrived in front of an establishment with the words "Duck Dining" painted on the front. They entered and got in line, their mouths watering while they waited.

Unfortunately, when they made it to the front of the line, the man at the counter informed them that he could not serve them.

"Why in seven hells not?" Cersei asked, annoyance flickering in her eyes.

"I was speaking to the man with you. You can stay and order."

"Why can't I?" asked Jaime perplexed.

"This is a respectable establishment. We don't serve half-dressed people. Come back with a shirt on if you want service."

Jaime sighed wearily, too weak from hunger to offer any sort of protest. "We'll be on our way then." He turned to leave but quickly found that Cersei was not following. He looked back at her with a question in his eyes.

She met his gaze almost apologetically and rubbed her belly. "Sorry. The baby needs food. I'll retrieve some coins for you after I order my meal." Her fingers clenched tightly around the straps of the sack, making it clear that he would be getting no coin until she did as she pleased.

He hesitated. He had been without food far longer than she had and he really feeling the effects. On the other hand, she was pregnant and their diet as of late certainly didn't befit a woman in her condition, especially not one accustomed to more royal fare.

They stared at each other, him silently pleading for her to come with him and her daring him to argue the point. Finally, the spell was broken when a man whom he premised was the owner ordered him to leave immediately. The man pointed to a sign nailed to the front. "You should've never even ventured inside here. Can you not read? That sign says no shirt or shoes, no service. And your wife here can either order or leave as well. She's holding up the line."

Jaime sighed and nodded at Cersei as if to let her know she had won the battle. "Come find me outside as soon as you order," he requested of her.

Cersei replied that she would before turning back to the man to enquire about the food. 

The man informed her of the meager options. The meat was duck, it was apparently the only meat they served. There were only two different types of salads, and the final choice was between either a butter biscuit or a honey biscuit. Underwhelmed by the choices, she choose her meal quickly. He responded by telling her what it cost before promising her that her meal would be out shortly.

She untied the sack to get the needed coin, but failed to see any coins in the small pouch stitched into the top where they had been keeping them. Jaime! The fool, at some point he must have moved the coins to where the jewels and crown were. She wondered when he had been alone with it to do so. Perhaps while she had been sleeping? She reached into the large sack and felt around searching for them. She hoped that the man wouldn't look inside while she took her time in retrieving the coins. 

She looked as best as she could without removing any of the items from the sack. The crown, rings, and necklace were all visible, but she did not see the coins, nor did her hands brush across them. Her face burned red with embarrassment as people behind her began to complain.

"I'm going to have to insist you pay now or leave, Lady."

She was ravenously hungry, but she knew to cause a scene would not end well for her. She'd never felt so powerless before, not even when father refused to allow her to practice swordplay like Jaime, or when the Faith Militant had locked her away in a dungeon. Accepting her defeat she headed outside to confront Jaime about the missing coins.

"There were no coins!"

"The jewels?" he asked alarmed.

"The jewels were are all there. But the coins we had are all gone. Did you take them?"

"Why would I do that?"

"How should I know why? It's the only explanation. I am sure if somebody had somehow stolen from us, the jewels would not still be here!"

"Shit! I....I think I know what happened. I must have given them all to the maid to bribe her."

"You fool!"

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize it! I'm not used to having to watch what I spend. I'll be more careful from now on. Let's just go sell something. Remember Tyrion said there was a discreet broker next to the brothel. That place over there should be it."

"Let's go then. I am starving. I could be eating honey duck right now if it weren't for your stupidity!"

"I said I was sorry!"

Her reply was just to roll her eyes before scurrying ahead of him to the brokers. 

He rushed to catch up. "Wait! What are we selling? You mentioned that there was one jewel you didn't wish to part with. Which one is that?" 

She slowed her pace, eventually coming to a halt. "The pendant, of course." 

The rings held their own sentimental value but would be nowhere near as hard to part with. The pendant on the other hand, was all they had left to remind them of House Lannister. Of course, she wasn't so foolish as to think she could ever wear it again. She thought perhaps one day, long after they were gone, when people thought house Lannister extinct some descendent of theirs could emerge. It would be like a giant fuck you to anybody who dared speak ill of House Lannister, as she was sure they would. More importantly, the pendant was a link to their past, her mother and daughter had both worn pendents identical to it. This was the only one that remained, the others presumably buried under the Red Keep. She would not part with it.

They debated briefly before they agreed that for now, they would only sell one item. Cersei was worried that even that profit would be enough of an amount to raise suspicion with the bank, Jaime felt terrible forcing her to part with anything but it was necessary. He would have been rather surprised about what item she was going to sell were it not for their earlier conversation. Together they headed inside to part with one of their few remaining possessions.

There was nobody else in the shop. Cersei made pleasantries with the broker before taking the crown out. Just as Tyrion had said, he asked no questions. He examined it briefly before informing her of his offer. Cersei frowned and made a counteroffer. Jaime observed as they argued for a bit before agreeing on a price. 

With a price now settled on she waited for him to retrieve her payment. Her thoughts drifted back to the bittersweet time when Tommen had died and she declared herself Queen. A crown had been needed. She would not, could not, wear Tommen's, not after what he had done.

She remembered choosing the design and how pleased with the jewelcrafters results she had been. She had chosen silver with just wisps of gold to show that even in grief the golden lion stands strong. The center of the crown was the lion sigil abstracted, its mane representing the Iron Throne, her lifelong desire. She had made it finally, ruling without any man over her. She had never felt so empowered as the time that crown was placed upon her head.

As the loss of her crown was finalized she was surprised to find no great sense of loss accompanied it. Instead, to her surprise, she had found herself thinking of all the more important things that she had left behind in The Red Keep. The children's portraits. A lock of hair from Joffrey's first haircut. A doll that had once been Myrcella's favorite. Tommen's cat Ser Pounce. She wondered what had happened to him. After Tommen's death, she had scarcely seen him. She hoped he was not in the Red Keep when it had collapsed, or that if he was he had made it out in time.

It was not until they were outside that Jaime spoke. "Would you like me to carry some of the coin?"

"No. I'm going to deposit what we don't immediately need into the bank. We need to be careful with our money. If someone were to rob us what would we do? A bank gives us protection against perpetual poverty."

"But isn't the sack rather heavy now? Perhaps I could go in and purchase another and we could both carry some coin," he suggested. 

She didn't like that suggestion at all. What if he left her? She would need every last coin to support herself, and besides, that was her crown. The money should be both her joy and her burden.

"The walk to a bank shouldn't be far. I'm sure I can manage. Perhaps you could be useful and ask a local where the nearest bank is."

Jaime sighed, annoyed, but he did as she suggested. A man gave them directions to the nearby bank, and informed them of another bank of higher standing located across town. For that bank, they would need to hire a wagon to take them as it would take hours to walk.

As they started their walk to the bank he debated asking Cersei to go to the brothel with him to eat. He doubted they had any requirements that one wear should wear a shirt to be fed. As quick as the idea entered his mind, it left, it wouldn't take that long to buy a shirt. More importantly, Cersei hated those places, and he wanted to give her better for her first meal in Pentos.

He noticed her struggling with the sack. "I can carry a bit more of the coins. I'll just put them in my pockets." 

"You have no pockets. Those pants are servants' garb. I chose the designs for them. To prevent stealing I specifically ordered that they have no pockets sewn into them."

He laughed, it was the laugh he used when he knew something she didn't.

"What is so funny?" she asked suspiciously.

He stopped walking, letting a family pass them before stating, "They do have pockets. Multiple pockets. See. In the back here and this one on the side."

"What in the...." She turned to look, noticing there were in fact what looked like pockets, just a few shades of brown lighter than the rest of the fabric. Still, in disbelief, she put her hand in one of the pockets. "Are those crumbs in there?! Disgusting! Ugh! I can't believe those sneaky little servents. I wish I could whip them!"

"For sewing pockets into their pants?" he asked, amused.

They resumed their walking, and Cersei frowned, "Of course, they were obviously stealing food, and who knows what else. Well, I suppose at least whoever they were, they were buried alive under the Red Keep."

"You mean like us?" 

"Not funny," she replied. 

They walked in silence for a few minutes before his stomach growled. "Why don't you go order the food while I deposit the money and get myself a much-needed shirt? I'm really hungry."

"No. I'm going with you. At least to deposit the money."

She had eaten the pie last night, and but being pregnant she still had to be just as hungry as him. Why wouldn't she just go order the food? Then they could both eat all the sooner. Was this her having to be in control of things, or did she think he would run off and leave her? After they were both clean, fed, and had seen a master they really needed to talk.

A short while later they had reached the bank. When it was their turn Jaime tried to make an account to deposit the money. Cersei interrupted, and a very awkward encounter ensured before finally, they left the bank.

Once they were outside again Jaime turned to her, hurt visible in his eyes, "Your servant, really?"

"It was my crown. You shouldn't get to be the one who owns the proceeds from it."

"You could have said that I was your husband!"

"But you aren't and I needed to make sure that I was the one signing for the money. After all, I should be able to retrieve my own money. Pentos probably has as idiotic laws as Westeros when it comes to a married woman's money."

Why did she need to retrieve her own money? Was she planning on leaving him? Surely she had to realize she needed his protection and she wouldn't do anything so foolish and rash. Or would she? Perhaps she planned to raise their child in secret and reclaim the throne when they were of age. It had worked well for Daenerys, or rather it would have had she not gone mad. She knew he would never agree to such a thing so perhaps she would leave him and he'd spend the rest of his life traveling, searching every face in the crowd for her. He could not let that happen. He hated that he was always the one to apologize first, even when she so clearly was the one with the greater sins, he'd hoped things might be different when he came back. He wouldn't let pride get in the way any longer though, tonight he would ensure she knew how much he loved her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still doing that contest. I'm at fewer than 10 comment threads away from 1000 across all my stories! I won't say how many I need to reach 1000 exactly, could be one, could be nine, you'll have to comment and see if you win! Rules below: 
> 
> Whoever is my 1000th comment thread starter will get a 2000-3000 word fic of Cersei/Jaime in whatever setting/situation you choose! Rules: Winner's comment must be at least 50 words long if you've not reviewed anything of mine before and 25 words long if you have reviewed before at some point and must say at least something positive about the fic (ie no winners who just give a bunch of crit and nothing else). And also comments on any of my fics in the Cersei/Jaime tag will count towards it so you can even comment on my other fics to increase your chances :P


	12. Unexpected News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They part ways temporarily and Jaime spends some time in the company of a shop keeper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back with a new chapter. A bit earlier than I thought I'd post it but I've been making good progress on my writing lately.
> 
> Congrats to Zvon_cica who won my contest by being my 1000th thread starter! I will start working on your fic soon!
> 
> For anyone curious, the idea they came up with was an AU what would happen with them and the baby if cersei had kept the iron throne and defeated Daenerys. It will be 2000-3000 words and if not a one-shot maybe 2 or 3 chapters. Actually, I dunno if I can do it justice in 3000 words so it might be just a Lil longer than that. Expect it sometime mid or late next month. The title will be "A Dynasty For Us"

[](https://statcounter.com/) Jaime was thankful that the problem of their lack of spendable funds had now been solved. Finally, he could get a shirt and they could both have a hot meal.

He could now buy some clothes and Cersei could eat without him. He'd hoped they'd share their first meal in Pentos together, but he couldn't fault her if she didn't want to wait. After all, she was pregnant, and he was concerned not only for her but for the baby as well.

They walked in silence for a few moments until Cersei came to a halt in front of a diner. It was different from the one that they'd had their earlier embarrassing scene in. He stopped and waited for her to say something.

"As humiliating as my current state of dress is, I'm afraid I'm far too hungry to wait any longer to eat," she informed him.

"It won't take that long to get some clothes. We could just..."

"No."

They stared into each other's eyes both trying to guess what the other was thinking. The power was all in Cersei's hand now. She had all the money as well as all their remaining possessions. Would she leave him now, here on the streets of Pentos dressed in rags with only one shoe? It wouldn't surprise him. He had left her to help the North. He was sure she'd want revenge on him. Not to mention his whole affair with Brienne as well. He had come back to her though, and he had chosen to go with her to Pentos. Surely that had to count for something?

To his surprise, she retrieved some coins from the sack. "I trust you know my measurements and what sort of clothes I like?"

"Of course." She was his twin, his mirror, his other half; of course he knew her measurements!

"Get me just one dress and set of underclothes. I'd like to choose the rest of my clothes."

"Aye. One dress and set of underclothes. I promise I'll be quick."

"I'll be waiting inside."

Before he could form a reply she had walked into the diner. Dammnit, he'd forgotten to tell her what to order for him. Ah well. he was so hungry he could eat anything. 

Sighing, he went into the nearest clothing store. He would just buy the necessities for himself and what Cersei had asked him to buy. He would be in and out as quick as possible. They would eat their first meal in Pentos together and he would even get a friendly conversation going if he could. Things would improve for them sooner rather than later.

In the shop, he noticed that he was getting some very strange looks. He tried to ignore them as he approached an aisle with piles of shirts stacked neatly.

He was examining a shirt when somebody whom he presumed to be the shop owner or a hired hand approached him. He requested Jaime to go in the backroom with him, but from his tone, Jaime sensed that it was more of a demand than a request. For fear of being kicked out empty-handed, he agreed and followed the man.

The man cut right to it once they were alone together. "I cannot help but notice your sad state of dress."

"I have coin to buy if that is what you're concerned about."

"You don't look it. What happened to you?"

Shit. He knew he had better think fast if he didn't want to arouse suspicion. "I...I...I was drunk. I slipped and cut my foot. My wife found me wandering the roads and bandaged me up using my shirt; but I had wandered too far from home so we had to come into the city for the night." He wasn't sure the man would buy this story, but it was partially true, he had gotten drunk and slipped and cut his foot, and they certainly had wandered far from home.

The man eyed him somewhat suspiciously and Jaime tried to neutralize the situation by voicing his concern about the shop being unguarded.

"Worry not for me. My wife is out there to keep an eye on things."

"So then are you a shoemaker and your wife a seamstress?" Jaime asked.

The man looked at him oddly and for a second Jaime worried he had offended him in some way. As quick as the worry surfaced, the sound of the mans laughter broke through, "You aren't from around here are you?"

Jaime's face must have registered panic because quickly the man explained, "Tis alright. We're getting a lot of you overseas travelers as of late. Can't blame you for rushing to flee with how things are over there. Not seen any looking as rough as you though. But to answer your question, no, certainly not. My wife might add on tassels, fringes, feathers, and embroidered designs, to much of our clothing, and some more expensive additions such as buttons, pearls, and cabochons of glass or semi-precious stones at times. Typically we buy clothes from locals to resell. We have used clothes as well if you cannot afford...."

Jaime cut him off, "I can afford it!" Cersei would be aghast if wearing used clothing became their new norm.

"How much you got?"

He'd not bought any clothes when he had visited Pentos all those years ago so his knowledge regarding the cost of Pentosi clothing was still nonexistent. He suddenly regretted that in his youth he had not devoted more time to studying free city finance. He had always focused so much on getting him and Cersei there that he had given little thought as to the rest. He did at least have some knowledge regarding housing at least, but that would serve no use at the moment.

Seeing his reluctance the man stated, "I'm not going to cheat you. Look most people would not even entertain the thought of somebody who looks like you in their shops at all. But I've been where you've been, albeit I was certainly much younger. So I want to help. My name is Belonar, what is your name?"

"Janus," replied Jaime.

"Janus. A fine name. What is it you need, Janus. and how much coin do you have?"

"My wife is eating and wishes for me to be quick. She said to only buy her a dress and some underclothes and myself a shirt and shoes," he explained. "This is all I have on me." He grabbed the coins out of his pocket and showed Belonar.

"This isn't enough for all of that."

Jaime's face fell and he asked, "How much for just a shirt and dress then?" He knew he likely needed a shirt to get into the diner He wanted to not completely disappoint Cersei so he reasoned a dress for her to change into and a shirt for him would be the best options. Cersei should have torn the damn shirt rather than wrap the whole damn thing around him. 

"You have only enough coin for a shirt or a plain dress with that coin, not both and certainly not shoes in addition."

"Oh. I suppose I'll get the shirt then," He needed to get back to Cersei, perhaps if at first glance he looked properly dressed they could at least have a meal together. Hopefully, nobody would notice his missing shoe. Regardless he didn't want to keep Cersei waiting long, their meals likely hadn't even been served yet and if he made it back now they'd be able to enjoy their first meal together.

"Well, of to the right is all the plain clothing we've just gotten in. Off to the left is clothing my wife added some designs to, that we've not gotten around to setting out yet. Look around and see if you can find anything that looks like it would fit.

"Thank you, I won't be long." Wanting to hurry, he selected the first shirt he saw, a plain grey shirt that looked like it would fit. "I'll get this and then and come back with my wife after we make another visit to the bank. I suppose we should have withdrawn more." He lied, not wanting it known that he had no say over the finances.

"I don't know why, considering what you look like, But I believe you so I will do you a kindness. You can have shoes as well, provided you come back to pay before Nightfall. You may also select one dress, one set of female undergarments, and come and quickly pick them up with your wife when you return with the money owed.

Of course, he would return, he'd planned to anyway and Lannisters always....but no, he wasn't a Lannister anymore. Nonetheless, he would honor this debt. Still, he couldn't help but voice his shock and ask Belonar why he would trust him.

"That sword there looks extraordinary. Whoever you are you clearly come from a family with money, or at the very least had money to buy that at some point. I am guessing like many others you recently fled from Westeros."

Jaime felt a rush of panic. If Belonar knew that he was not only from Westeros, but from a well off family then how long would it be till he figured out who he and Cersei really were? How many stories of the Kingslayer had reached Essos? Surely the story of him killing the Mad King was known here, but was it also known that he was missing a hand? Belonar had to have noticed, how long until he put everything together?

More importantly, what was that about others fleeing from Westeros? Surely he must mean refugees from Kings Landing, fleeing from Daenery's reign of terror. If that was the case it wouldn't be long until somebody recognized one or both of them. Cersei had been right after all. It would be too risky to settle in Pentos.

"You alright?" Belonar asked when Jaime failed to reply.

He thought of lying, insisting he wasn't from Westeros, but he had the feeling Belonar would see right through it. "I'm fine. Just surprised you figured it out. So there are a lot of us foreigners arriving then?"

"In the past two days, I've seen more of your people than in the past year. Can always spot one of you. You talk funny. And dress funny. Though I haven't seen any looking as haggard as you. No offense."

"None taken."

"Now lets get you the rest of what you need. What size is your wife?"

Jaime made a guess as to Cersei's size, adding a few inches do to her pregnancy, even though in his opinion she barely looked pregnant. Belonar directed him to where the appropriate clothing was.

He tried to ignore the watchful eye of Belonar as he made his selections. First, he chose a pair of shoes for himself, picking the first ones he came across that fitted him. Next, he selected some underclothes for Cersei. Now was the difficult part. A dress for Cersei. As he shifted through the stacks of clothes with designs added, the site of emerald green caught his eye. He removed the dress and took a closer look at it. It had few frills, in fact, the only accessory it had was a golden colored sash that looked to be adjustable. It would be perfect for the weather in Pentos, which was chilly, but nowhere near as much so as the weather in Winterfell, or even Kingslanding had been. Perhaps even more importantly, due to its coloring, Cersei was sure to at least not hate it.

Having made his selections, he informed Belonar.

"Good choices. I trust you will be back with the money before nightfall?"

"As soon as we finish our meals and change. I swear to you. Thank you for this kindness. I'm afraid I have to ask for one more, however. I'd like to change in here, if it is alright."

"Sure thing."

With that Jaime put on the new shirt. Next was the shoes, which required removing the makeshift bandage Cersei had used his previous shirt as. He accessed the damage. His ankle was still paining him when he walked, but at least his foot wasn't bleeding, and the cut didn't look too deep. At this point, it was too early for any sort of infection to set in. He'd see a maester about it to make sure that didn't happen, Cersei wanted to see one anyway, just to make sure everything was fine with the baby.

Once Jaime said his farewells to Belonar he headed to meet back up with Cersei.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always reviews appreciated, short, long, etc, even foreign language ones (it's kinda exciting using google translate to translating one). Even concrit is alright (tho if you've read this far I'd hope you have something nice to say about the fic too) 
> 
> Have you guys noticed the writing getting better? For the last few chapters I've been getting some help with the non-dialogue parts on a forum I use. And if you've reviewed at some point and decide to not read anymore for any reason please let me know, (silent readers need not tell me if or why they're dropping the story) I've noticed a lot of reviewers have just stopped reviewing at various points, I presume they quit the story for some reason or just left the fandom and I'd love to know what made them quit if they did so I could maybe take it into consideration (nor promising I will but will see).


	13. Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaime and Cersei have dinner but do they talk?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter as is the next few. Sorry for the wait.

He entered the dinner where Cersei was waiting for him. His eyes scanned the room and quickly found her. Her back was turned and he watched as she grabbed a glass of something which he only hoped wasn't wine. Wasting no time he made his way to her. 

Once he sat down across from her she greeted him with only a "Finally." before returning to her drink. He noticed that there were two plates on their table. One of them was empty. The other looked to be mostly full. On it was broccoli, a biscuit, and a pathetically small portion of steak.

"You finished your meal already?" he asked. Not waiting for a reply he grabbed the fork and loaded a bite of steak onto it, thankful that Cersei had been considerate enough to have cut up the meat for him. He would have been too embarrassed to ask.

Cersei put her glass down and grabbed the fork from the other plate, gently poking his hand with it.

"Ow! Cer...Seraelena, what the hell?" he exclaimed, nearly forgetting to use her new name due to the intrusion.

"That's mine!" she informed.

"You didn't order for me?"

"I did. But you took too long. You always take too long," she remarked, and he couldn't help feeling as though her complaint wasn't entirely about today.

So that had been why the portion of steak had been so unimpressive. "I need to eat!" he protested.

"Go order another meal, and while you wait for them to bring it you can have the broccoli and the biscuit. This steak is just too good to share."

He defiantly ate the piece of steak he had grabbed before agreeing to do just that. Cersei paused from her meal just long enough to give him the coin for it and inform him to order a piece of apple cake for her.

"What did you order?" she asked when he came back."

"Chicken and carrots. And your apple cake of course." 

"Good choices, that is what I had for my first meal as well."

He didn't have the heart to tell her that he'd only ordered the chicken because he'd felt too awkward to ask for her help with the steak.

A moment of silence passed before Cersei spoke again, "You don't seem to have brought anything with you. You were supposed to get me a dress and underclothes. I don't want to go into another place looking like this."

"You look fine. Certainly far better than I did. Besides, you didn't give me enough to buy more than a shirt."'

She looked down at his feet. "Seems you were able to buy shoes though."

"Actually. I only had enough for a shirt or dress. He let me have the shoes with the promise I would come back before sundown to pay."

"How very kind of him. I wonder what sort of interest we will be charged for that."

"Hopefully none. He didn't mention anything of the sort. He also let me select a dress and underclothes for you. He's holding them for me until we came back with more coin."

"Stuff must cost more here than I'd thought it would. I had no idea on the price. How will we know if we're being cheated or something?" Cersei asked.

"I wish I knew."

"But you were here before,"

"Once for barely a week. I didn't exactly stick around long enough to be buying things."

They continued to eat in silence, both wondering what the other was thinking but too scared to ask. Jaime had finished the green beans and biscuits and Cersei the steak when their food was brought to them.

With the chatter of the nearby patrons the only noise around them, Jaime attempted to start conversation by asking Cersei what she thought of Pentos.

"Not impressed. I expected more."

"Well, I think the better part of Pentos is further in. We should be on the east side of Pentos if I'm correct. Perhaps tomorrow we could travel to the west side. We need to look towards the future and where to settle."

"Not anywhere in Pentos. It's too risky."

Yesterday he would have disagreed, but after his talk with Belonar, he was inclined to agree with that assessment. They would have to discuss it more in-depth later. once they both had time to think. He also realized that now was as good a time as any to inform her that Arya Stark had killed the Night King. Now that many from Kingslanding had arrived here It wouldn't be long before she found out. It would be better if she heard it from him. 

"I am not in the mood for jokes, Jaime," she replied, rolling her eyes. Arya Stark killing the Night king? She couldn't even fight! Could she?

"It's not a joke!"

She searched his face. Damnit, he was serious. "How...." she asked, speechless.

"With her Valyrian steel dagger."

So she could fight? Her anger rose. That hideous cow must have taught her. "But how did she get close enough?"

"I'd have to start at the beginning. It shouldn't take too long to tell though."

"I suppose it should be an interesting story. Did she die during it?" she asked.

"No. I would have mentioned it before if she had. When we were on the dingy I told you everybody who died "  
.  
"I thought you might be omitting some of the deaths."

"Why would I do that?" he asked confused.

"To save them for a time when I need cheering up?"

He rolled his eyes at that, "She's never done anything to us. Us to her on the other hand...."

"The Starks made themselves our enemies the moment Ned made his intentions to tell Robert clear." She paused before continuing. "Would you change it if you could, threaten Bran into silence instead?" she asked.

"No. It would be too risky that he would have told. I don't relish in the boys fate. Especially not after what he's become. Will you let me tell the story now?"

"What he's become? A cripple you mean?"

"No...not that. Would you like me to tell the story? Or would you rather talk about the Stark boy?"

"It's always something with those Starks, isn't it? No. I care not to hear of the boy. Tell me of the war."

She did wonder what Jaime had meant by "what he's become". Had the boy become bitter and resentful? Well, she supposed it made sense. He had lost both parents and two of his brothers. He must be pretty angry. Well, at least If he decided upon revenge one day he'd have no hope of finding them.

"I suppose I should start from the beginning. When the time came to fight everybody not fighting went into the crypts. The rest of..."

Cersei interrupted him, "What?"

"Were you not listening?"

"I was listening but I think I did not hear correctly. Repeat that for me."

"When the time came to fight everybody not fighting went into the crypts."

Cersei interjected, "So you all decided that the best place to hide from the Night King was a place where dead people are kept?"

"Aye."

"But doesn't he reanimate corpses? Or so I've heard."

"He does. It wasn't Jon's wisest decision."

"It didn't work out too well did it?" she asked, slightly smirking.

"No, it didn't."

"Such a pity that fool is probably sitting on the Iron Throne right now."

"Daenerys is sitting the throne. Unless somebody killed her," he reminded.

"Well, I hope if somebody did that she met a most painful end."

"We can only hope. Now would you like to hear about the war I actually fought in?" he asked a bit impatiently.

"Were you just one soldier among thousands, or did you actually play a major role?" she retorted.

That cut deeply. "I....alright. Maybe I was wrong to leave. But I made a vow. If only you would have told me of your plan...."

"Do you regret it then? Leaving me."

"In some ways yes. But I would have never made such promises to help the North if you'd kept me abreast of your plans!"

Cersei marveled at that. Perhaps, she should have told him. They were twins, two halves of a whole. They shouldn't have secrets from each other. Then she reminded herself it was because of this very reason that he should have known without her having to tell him. Did he really think her foolish enough to help the North?

As they finished their food, Jaime began to tell her of the final battle. It wasn't long before she knew how those who had fallen had perished. She'd been none too happy that Jorah had died a hero. Varys manner of death on the other hand she found quite satisfying. Served him right for his betrayal.

She finished her honeywater just as Jaime swallowed his last bite of food. "We should get going. I'd still like to see a maester today."

"Would you like to go there first?"

"Of course not. Wearing these clothes for this long has been terrible enough. I'm to assume it won't take us long so let's just head to this shop you mentioned. I hope you selected me something less drab than the typical wear here."

"We're trying to blend in, remember?" reminded Jaime. "I do think you will like what I picked. Though I suppose if you don't they'll probably let you chose something else."

With that, they headed out of the tavern onward to the shop to pay off their debt. Cersei made a note to shop around a bit tomorrow. It would be useful to know what the pricing normally was so that they could be sure not to get cheated. She knew that the crown she had sold had already netted them a huge profit. The jewels she had yet to sell were worth quite a lot as well. However, she feared it would not be enough to afford a house as large as she'd like, or a servant to do the dirty work. She certainly didn't want to have to clean a privy or anything of that nature.[](https://statcounter.com/)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As before would love any feedback and the story, long, short, foreign language, mistakes you spot, etc, I just ask you to say at least something positive about the fic! Also, I promise there won't be another three-week wait for the next chapter! 
> 
> Gah only two reviews in 48 hours? Come on people it only takes a second to review. Just say your fav part of the chapter or what you think will happen next, or your reaction to something in the chapter. There are 16 of you subbed to this and 34 of you to me and I really wish more of you would review. I'll not be 3 weeks again but the more that review the more likely I'll post the next chapter closer to a week from now (Feb 23rd) (or even before) than 2 weeks from now (March 2nd). I'll have the next chapter out no later than March 7th either way. Well, I did say it wouldn't be 3 weeks, so anything under, and it's not 3 weeks lol.


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